APCOM

Milano is among Europe's 15 most business friendly cities. The Lombard capital is ranked number 13, while Roma places itself at the 25th slot (12 months ago it was 27th). London proves itself again to be the best business centre, followed by Paris and Frankfurt, while Barcelona is the city with the highest quality of life. These are the main findings of the 19th annual European Cities Monitor report carried out by global real estate consultant Cushman and Wakefield.

Milano and Roma are well known as business locations. However, according to the survey, they are far behind on the tax relieves and financial incentives that governments provide to help companies. Moscow and other eastern European cities like Warsaw, Budapest and Bucharest can expect the biggest influx of companies over the next five years. Cities as diverse as Zurich, Dusseldorf and Manchester all rose significantly in the rankings.

The annual report is based on interviews with senior managers and board directors in charge of location for 500 of Europe's largest companies. In addition to the overall ranking, 34 cities are ranked against a number of criteria such as telecommunications, transport links, access to markets, availability and quality of staff, cost of office space and quality of life.