The country is an hour ahead of the UK, while neighbouring Portugal uses Greenwich Mean Time. Spain’s motivation is to boost the country’s productivity, moving to a working day that finishes at 6pm, The Times reports.
Madrid was in the GMT zone until 1942, when Spain’s dictator General Franco moved the clock’s forward to match Nazi Germany. The change is likely to be approved by opposition parties in Spain’s parliament and could spell an end to the siesta, still common in the south of the country.
The change may mean airlines flying to the UK from Spain have to make timetable changes to early morning and late night flights, which currently use the hour’s time difference to their advantage.
