Spain considers saying adios to siesta during working day

Spain is considering putting an end to its long working day and moving the clocks back an hour to improve productivity.

In a move that could spell the end of the traditional afternoon siesta, Labour minister Fatima Banez is seeking a "national pact" to bring the country's working day into line with the rest of Europe.

"We want our workdays to finish at six o'clock and to achieve this we will work towards striking a deal with representatives from both companies and trade unions," she told MPs.

Working hours in Spain vary greatly, but a typical day runs from 9am until 7-8pm - or even later with an afternoon lunch break lasting up to two hours.

Many Spaniards would in the past go home for lunch and a sleep during the hot weather of summer - but many now live in the city where it is unrealistic to go home for a snooze.

Under the current system, some workers return from lunch at about 5pm when their northern European counterparts are probably preparing to go home.

As a consequence, small grocery shops stay open until 9pm, dinner comes late and prime-time TV shows run until midnight when one in four workers goes to bed.

Professor Nuria Chinchilla from a non-profit group trying to change work hours said the lack of sleep and schedules take a toll on family life.

She pointed to Spain's low birth rate - the second lowest in the EU - and the high rate of school dropouts, saying: "We don't have enough children or energy to help them."

As far as the clocks are concerned, General Franco moved Spain from Greenwich Mean Time to Central European Time in 1940, to make it in line with Berlin and central Europe.

That means Madrid is an hour ahead of London even though it is roughly in the same band of longitude. Instead it shares the same time as Warsaw some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) to the east.

That means the sun appears to rise and set later in Spain, which also affects people's habits.

There is general agreement within Spain that something needs to change, but disagreement on how it should be done.