Spain’s acting prime minister has vowed to alter the country’s working hours by reverting to Greenwich Mean Time for a “better quality of life”.
Mariano Rajoy vowed that if he becomes the next prime minister, he will ensure that the working day would end by 6pm.
The move would alter the Spanish way of life, such as lunch at 2pm and dinner well after 9pm – many do not finish work until that time. It would also likely call time on the afternoon siesta of two or three hours.
Returning to GMT would put the country’s clocks in line with Portugal and the UK as well as Spain’s Canary Islands. It would end a 74-year-old tradition of alignment with Germany which dictator Francisco Franco began in 1942 to show solidarity with his Nazi allies.
Currently, the Central European Time aligns Spain with neighbouring France and much of the rest of Europe.
Rajoy said that he would turn back the clocks in order to "adapt to the needs of the country", with reconciling work and family life as the ultimate goal.
Spain is heading for a new general election in June after months of political squabbling failed to produce a coalition strong enough to govern in the wake of the inconclusive outcome of the December vote.
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