SPAIN TO RETURN TO GMT
CAMPAIGNERS for Spain to return to GMT have called for the government not to put the clocks forward on Saturday night. They want to keep the time as it is now, which would put mainland Spain on BST (British Summer Time) until October when the clocks would go back and the country would be on Greenwich Mean Time. Although the Canary Islands are already in the same time zone as the UK, Portugal and Morocco, the Balearic Islands and the mainland are an hour ahead - despite the Greenwich Meridian line running straight through the northern part of the Alicante province close to the furthest point east.Dictator General Franco decided to put Spain an hour forward on May 2, 1942 so it would be in line with Berlin and in the same time zone as Nazi Germany, of whom Franco was an ally. It was never put back to GMT, meaning residents in Spain are living out of synch with the sun.
The National Commission for Rationalising Spanish Timetables (ARHOE) says daylight saving is only effective in terms of energy efficiency if a society adopts a time schedule that coincides with it. ARHOE's chairman, José Luis Casero, says putting clocks back or forward 'does not make a difference' to electricity consumption because of Spain's 'marathon working days' where 'presence is valued over efficiency'. "This has a negative impact, not only on the loss of family and personal life and difficulties in combining these with work, but also on productivity and efficiency on the job," says Casero. This means those who are not able to go home for lunch and cook a meal have to find somewhere to go for up to four-and-a-half hours when most shops and even some restaurants are shut, then they get home 12 or 14 hours after leaving in the morning. Research has shown that there is no direct relationship between length of time spent at work and quality and quantity of work carried out - in fact, a very long day is more likely to lead to a decline in productivity due to tiredness and feeling jaded, Casero insists.
But long days are not the only issue for ARHOE. "Spain does not run on solar time like everywhere else, which causes problems with sleep and health - as many medical professionals have proven," Casero states. Lunch and evening meals are taken later than in many other countries, prime-time TV shows including football matches are broadcast between 22.00hrs and 01.00hrs, and yet many office workers have to start between 08.00hrs and 09.00hrs - effectively, the equivalent of starting at 07.00hrs or 08.00hrs, because of their body clocks not coinciding with their watches. And the midday sun in summer is actually the 13.00hrs sun, meaning the usual advice about staying out of it between 11.00hrs and 16.00hrs to avoid heatstroke and burning is an hour out - beach-goers are better advised to keep out of direct sunlight between noon and 17.00hrs. For a person in Spain to eat lunch at 12.30hrs, as is the case in many other countries in Europe, they would in fact be eating at 11.30hrs - and the usual 21.00hrs evening meal would in practice be taken at 20.00hrs if Spain was in the right time zone, an hour which would make more sense to visitors to the country who often remark on how late residents eat.
ARHOE has organised a demonstration in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square on Sunday this week, and will be handing out 'protest bracelets' to the public. It has also set up a petition on Change.org which, at the time of publication had been signed by over 1,000 people.
