This time? Calls return for Spain to move to GMT

Spaniards work long, protracted hours, often into dark evenings that are artificially one hour later than they should be.

Spain has been teetering on returning to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) for a couple of years, without ever actually following through.

In the run up to the last general election,  (discounting the subsequent second election held in June), Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that if he were to be re-elected, he would move Spain off GMT+1 and bring the country in line with the U.K. and Portugal, as befitting its geographical position…

Well, now Rajoy is back in power, and talk has returned to moving the clocks back. Last week Spain’s employment minister Fátima Báñez said that the country should seriously consider dropping the current timezone, which was first adopted in 1942 when General Francisco Franco wanted to bring the country in line with Nazi Germany.

However, Spain lies farther west than most of the British Isles, and has long been out of sync with the rest of Europe – something that has stymied the country’s workforce and, some argue, economic development for decades.

Those pushing for change argue that Spain’s general working day is still largely based around agricultural labour patterns rather than the reality of an office-based existence. Although certainly not universal, many workers in Spain begin their day at around 9am, work until 12pm, take a 2-3 hour break, and return to the office until about 8pm. This long, protracted day, allied to a national timezone that is one hour ahead of where it should be, is exhausting many workers, critics argue.

“We want our workdays to finish at six o’clock and to achieve this we will work towards striking a deal with representatives from both companies and trade unions,” said Báñez in parliament last week. “Someone’s got to take the first step and that’s why I’m asking for the support of the biggest companies and the trade unions.”

Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) is unlikely to face any strong opposition in Parliament to these plans, having already won the backing of both the Socialists (PSOE) and Cuidadanos. Few could argue that such a change in Spain’s timekeeping would have a negative impact, with even wantaway Catalonia on board with these proposals.

Indeed, change almost arrived on the Balearics, where in October the islands asked Madrid to let them stay on summer time and not put their clocks back. The request was refused, but surely it is only a matter of time until Spain ditches tradition and falls in line with GMT.