Brussels, 07/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - The annual report on the functioning of the internal market in electricity and gas, which the European Commission issued on 5 January, shows continuing progress in many Member States although some still have work to do before the new Directives are fully operational. The Commission explains that 'governments need to step up efforts to implement the market opening measures in the gas and electricity Directives. Only greater integration of national markets can bring the required improvements to competition in the Energy internal market.' “The report shows a huge variation in the success of market opening by Member States, but I expect a significant improvement once the Directives are fully implemented. In the new global environment of higher primary energy prices, it is more important than ever for the Community to live up to its commitment for competitive gas and electricity markets”, said Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Energy. The next issue of Europe will return to this.