Spain Set to Re-join GMT if Rajoy is Re-Elected
Spain is giving a lot of thought to the idea of moving their
clocks back one hour to return to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) so that the time
zone of the country is in line with the geographical location of Spain.
 |
| Spanish time zone could come in line with UK |
Mariano Rajoy, the current acting prime minister of Spain,
has taken another look at the issue and has said that he will go ahead with the
change should he be re-elected. He says that the change should benefit Spain
and improve the quality of life for the Spanish people.
Spain changed from GMT to Central European Time (CET) back
in the 1940s. It was change brought in by General Franco. Franco wished to
bring the country in line with Nazi Germany; who Spain was allied with at the
time. Even though the Spanish capital of Madrid is further to the west than
London Spain has always been an hour ahead of the UK since then. Spain
currently has the same time zone as Serbia, a country 1,550 miles to East. As a
result of the current time zone Spaniards are currently able to be active and
work for longer.
The hot climate of Spain means that things are often done a
little later in the day than in other countries. As a result Spaniards find it
easier to stay active and work into the later hours when things cool down.
Because of this Spain currently has a vibrant nocturnal culture with the
streets coming alive in the late hours. Some people in Spain don’t eat
in restaurants or have their dinner until around 10 or 11PM.
Rajoy has argued the benefits of bringing Spain back into
GMT along with the Canary Islands however. He believes that if Spain was to
adopt GMT then the working day would be over sooner and the country would be
able to improve their GDP by adopting closer business ties with Europe by
having similar working hours. He also believes that such a change could
increase productivity so it matches the levels of more northern European
countries.
Such a change could also mean the end of the Spanish two
hour lunch break eating
local cuisine which could lead to a
bit of resistance within Spain, even though the time zone change is a remnant
of a time when Spain was under the iron fist of a dictator like Franco.
It’s unlikely that a decision will be made one way or the
other before June however. This is when Spain goes back to the polls to have
another general election after their last one in December ended with a hung
parliament.
