Malta is listed with the reform laggards among the 27 EU member states when it comes to the implementation of key changes aimed at improving competitiveness and economic performance.

The latest reform barometer published by Business Europe, the umbrella organisation of EU chambers of commerce, shows Malta improved its performance in 2010 when compared to the ;previous year but it remains among the “below average performers”, together with France, Italy, the UK and Cyprus among others.

Presented ahead of the spring European summit, the European Reform Barometer Spring 2011 report evaluates the EU and its individual member states based on 34 key indicators covering productivity, investment, trade, competitiveness, employment, fiscal sustainability and financial stability.

Germany, Sweden and Austria are among the best performers, combining high overall scores and improvements on the previous year.

However, room for improvement is identified in every member state. The report also highlights main country growth bottlenecks.

In Malta’s case, the report recommends the need to “reduce unnecessary welfare programmes and to rationalise health expenditure” if it wants to improve growth potential in the coming years.

Among the 34 indicators used for the benchmarking exercise, Malta performed best in high technology exports, annual hours worked, the unemployment rate and government deficit. In these areas, Malta is ranked among the best member states in the EU, gaining the top position for its high tech exports in comparison to the total country exports. It was also praised for its control of the structural deficit over the past years, an area where many other member states did not manage to do so well.

In other areas, particularly employment and productivity, Malta was ranked at the bottom.

Business Europe said the EU’s collective success in the coming years was inextricably linked to its capacity to foster national policies supporting global competitiveness, restoring fiscal sustainability, stimulating private investment and job creation.

“With Europe’s 2020 strategy and so-called European Semester, the EU has potentially reinforced its capacity for action but, in our assessment, most governments have so far failed to deliver ambitious strategies to restore growth, competitiveness and overcome post-crisis challenges.”