In effect, the Commission has adopted a carrot and stick approach: the carrot was the very intensive effort to bring the parties together and to get them to agree a solution through negotiation. The stick, on the other hand, was to take action when it was clear that these efforts were not proving sufficient.
En fait, la Commission a joué de la carotte (les efforts intensifs déployés en vue de réunir les parties et de parvenir à un accord par le biais de négociations) et du bâton (les mesures qu'il fallait prendre dès lors que les efforts fournis n'étaient clairement pas suffisants).