1. The Agency, in close cooperation with the Commission, Member States and relevant national authorities including the national regulatory authorities and without prejudice to the competences of competition authorities, shall monitor the internal markets in electricity and natural gas, in particular the retail prices of electricity and gas, access to the network including access of electricity produced from renewable energy sources, and compliance with the consumers' rights set out in Directive 2009/./EC [concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity] and Directive 2009/./EC [concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas].

Knowing the motives is obviously important for making a moral and political assessment of how individual countries and firms behave, but the fact remains that regardless of the motives of the individual parties to the agreement, some citizens of the European Union have been exposed to the painful results of having no gas. The truth is important, but it will not deliver gas.

G. whereas the gas sector is currently very vulnerable to external threats; whereas new forms of closer cooperation are being developed between gas exporting countries, which could endanger European energy security,

Due to the monopolies held by the traditional operators before liberalisation, the lack of integration and their natural characteristics, in particular low elasticity of demand, the gas and electricity markets are particularly exposed to the risk of dominant positions.

Both gas and electricity markets are susceptible to concentration due to the existence of pre-liberalisation monopolies and their natural characteristics.

(a)the extent to which third countries, representing a decisive share of global production of products in sectors or subsectors deemed to be at risk of carbon leakage, firmly commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the relevant sectors or subsectors to an extent comparable to that of the Community and within the same time-frame; and