I can't really comment on other countries, but at least in Germany you have a (pretty) difficult time trying to fire somebody for 'under-performing' as long as the person doesn't mess up unrelated things (like repeated misbehavior, e.g. feigning illness, theft, sexual harassment, ..) or your company isn't doing all that well from an economic point of view.

I'd say most of northern Europe. At least Nordic countries and Germany, in varying degrees. Probably similar in other european countries as well.