11 March 2024 , 11:25
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UK holidaymakers heading to Spain have been told to brace themselves for new rules that could change the country's nightlife.
Yolanda Diaz, Spain's Minister of Employment and Social Economy, has pledged that new regulations will be introduced to adjust opening times that are currently "not reasonable". If her ambitions are realised, then scenes of town squares filled full of cheerful punters sipping sangria and chewing tapas deep into the small hours may become a thing of the past.
As core to Spanish identity as such settings are, there is growing concern about the impact of noise on certain neighbourhoods and for the health of restaurant and bar workers required to work late into the night, reports Birmingham Live.
"A country that has its restaurants open at one in the morning is not reasonable. It is crazy to try to continue extending hours until I don't know what time," Diaz argued at Spain's congress last week.
Such classic Spanish scenes could become a thing of the past (Getty Images)Many politicians disagree with the minister, making the case for late night opening hours as an essential part of Spanish culture. Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the president of the Community of Madrid, is one of them. She said: "Spain has the best nightlife in the world, with streets full of life and freedom. And they also provide jobs. They want us Puritans, materialists, socialists, without soul, without light and without restaurants because they feel like it. Bored and at home."
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Jose Luis Yzuel, the president of Hospitality of Spain, also criticised the move, which aims to improve working hours for staff in the hospitality industry. He said the changes would risk Spain becoming "more boring than the Nordic countries, where you go home at 6pm because nothing is open".
An anonymous hospitality worker warned of the impact the move could have on restaurants and bars. "We already cut customers, we cut with the pandemic, and we cut the closure; we are only going to dedicate ourselves to pay taxes and collect zero," they said.
Espana de Noche (Spain at Night), an association representing the Spanish nightlife sector, added: "We reject any proposal which questions Spanish lifestyle, which distinguishes and sets us apart in the tourist market."
Diaz raised concerns about the negative effects on mental health caused by working past 10pm, pushing for shorter workweeks and arguing that businesses should close an hour earlier. She said: "It is not reasonable for Spain to be a country where we convene meetings at 8pm in the evening. It is not reasonable for a country that has its restaurants open at 1.00am."
She conceded that "it's clear that the working hours in Spain are very different" from the rest of Europe, but "from 10pm, these are night hours which present certain risks" for employees' mental health.
The government pact between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and Sumar to move towards shorter workweeks includes abandoning the 40-hour workweek and setting a legal maximum of 38.5 hours a week, reduced to 37.5 in 2025.
According to Eurostat, the number of weekly working hours in Spain is in line with the European average, but the day is more spread out and ends later. Spain is the European country with the most people working after 6pm.
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