Denmark is the European country making the best progress towards economic reform, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said yesterday.

The Swiss-based group said that many larger countries still had a long way to go to meet the targets that they set for themselves under the Lisbon agenda of structural reforms.

Denmark, Finland and Sweden topped the ranking of the best-reforming economies in the European Union, followed by the Netherlands and Germany, in a biennial assessment of productivity and competitiveness gains.

London’s prowess as an international financial hub made Britain the top EU performer in financial services, but it ranked sixth overall because of relative weakness in measures of social inclusion, such as pay equity and childcare access, as well as environmental regulation and ecological protection, the WEF said.

Turkey, whose bid to join the union was frozen this week to punish it for failing to normalise trade with Cyprus, ranked above Poland, a new EU member, in the index.

The report said that Turkey performed above Bulgaria and Romania, both of which are set to join the EU in January. Croatia ranked best among potential EU members.

France was ninth, benefiting from strong industries such as telecommunications, transport and utilities, the WEF said. The Republic of Ireland ranked eleventh but was applauded for its good access to capital and ease of starting a business.

Greece and Italy were near the bottom of the EU index, ranking below all other member countries except Poland.

Explore Football

• Euro 2008

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football