Spain may put the clocks back to GMT to aid productivity

At the moment, Spain runs one hour ahead of the U.K. in winter and two hours ahead in summer, but that could all change.

Photo by Muffingg / CC BY-SA 3.0

Discussions are afoot to make Spain go back in time –  without the aid of a time machine –  as the government considers changing back to the original GMT time zone.

The country does officially lie in the same time zone and both Portugal and the U.K., but the dictator Francisco Franco decided to change it in 1942 to keep in line with Germany, under his then great pal Adolf Hitler. With the exception of the Canary Islands, that time zone change has stayed in place ever since.That is until now.

Spain set to move from 'Nazi time zone' to GMT https://t.co/a0TI5FtTWv pic.twitter.com/wLSDGb81uJ

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) December 14, 2016

The writer reported back in 2013 that talks were ongoing to change the time zone, to keep it in line with GMT. Now things appear to be firming up.

According to labour minister, Fatima Ibañez, the current time zone has led to Spaniards working longer days than workers in other European countries. Now the Spanish government is saying that changing to Greenwich Mean Time would reduce the length of the working day and improve productivity in the country, by allowing workers to strike a better work/life balance. 

According to a statement by Ibañez on Monday, December 12, the government will seek agreement with representatives of companies and trade unions to allow the reform of the time zone. The plan was reportedly approved in August this year by the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos parties.

Will Spain changing to GMT improve workers' hours?

When reading comments on a report by Euro Weekly News on the subject, some people do rightly point out that people's working hours will remain the same. They will simply move back one or two hours –  depending on the season at the time –  so it is debatable whether this will actually help.

No doubt those of us here in Spain who suffer whenever there is a daylight savings change will feel it even more, should the country definitely decide to change to GMT. However, we will, at least, gain an hour or two that day.

Artist of 'Always Franco' fame found not guilty

Artist Eugenio Merino stole the limelight at the ARCO modern art fair in Madrid last year with a satirical piece of art depicting Francisco Franco in full uniform, inside a Coca-Cola fridge. Then he got sued for his trouble.

The piece of art consists of a wax model of Franco in full military gear, frozen inside the fridge.

However, once the the Franco Foundation, an organization devoted to perpetuating the memory of the “Generalísimo”, as he is known, got wind of the artwork, they immediately filed suit against the sculptor for dishonoring the former dictator.

According to the artist, the idea behind his sculpture was to show how Francisco Franco was "frozen in the Spanish people's minds." He had no intention of mocking the former nationalist leader.

Last Thursday the foundation, which is headed up by Franco's daughter, told the Regional High Court of Madrid that they would be asking Merino to pay €18,000 in damages for the insult. However, in return, the public prosecutor asked for the charges to be dropped.

On Wednesday the judge found Merino not guilty saying that the work "Always Franco" is "a work of art that causes surprise, by the unusual location of the historical character" but that it "could not undermine the honor and the dignity of the claimant Foundation, as it does not exceed our current culture-specific social applications."

Merino explained to the national daily El País that he was merely attempting to show how Franco was frozen into the minds of Spaniards. “The bigger a deal they make of this, the more people support me,” Merino told the media on leaving the court and referring to the Franco Foundation’s insistence on pursuing the case.

“They’ve already buggered me and got what they wanted: publicity.”

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde, to give him his full name, ruled Spain with an iron fist from 1936 until his death in 1975. The last official statue to the former dictator was pulled down in 2008. However, he does have a tomb in the monument of Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos, near Madrid. And for now, artistic expression wins the day.

To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/354674