Brussels, 06/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner in charge of Competition, Neelie Kroes, is to present the conclusions of her survey on the energy sector, on 16 February. It is worth noting that last June, the Commission launched an investigation procedure to see whether the European markets are competitive and, if so, whether they are sufficiently competitive for consumers. An interim report, which was published at the end of 2005, identified the following shortcomings: concentration on gas and electricity markets, allowing the existing operators to bring price pressure to bear; -limited development on wholesale markets and insufficient level of de-grouping of networks and supply activity; - barriers to the cross-border provision of gas and electricity, blocking the development of integrated energy markets; -lack of transparency on the markets, which is of benefit to existing operators, but which blocks the arrival of newcomers; -lack of confidence on the part of industry and consumers in the mechanisms to set specific prices on the wholesale markets, and excessive prices.