PSOE backs permanent summer time for Spain

PSOE approves push for permanent summer time

The 41st Federal Congress of the PSOE, held in Seville just before December 1, 2024, concluded with a consensus on regional funding that satisfied all federations. It also adopted a series of proposals ranging from lowering the voting age to 16 to constitutionally protecting pension revaluations. However, the most contentious issue was the aspiration to maintain UTC+2 year-round in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, and UTC+1 in the Canary Islands, effectively adopting permanent summer time. The official argument states that seasonal clock changes «influence people's well-being and mental health». Attempts to amend this proposal to a softer version failed.

What the PSOE proposes regarding time changes

The approved proposal aims to maintain UTC+2 throughout the year in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands and UTC+1 in the Canary Islands. This is not a regional competence nor a decision made at a party congress: time zones depend on the European framework, where the agreement faces significant hurdles. Some note that decisions are made at the community level and that a national party can do little beyond pushing Spain's position in Brussels.

The geographical detail is crucial. Mainland Spain spans meridians corresponding to Greenwich and Central Europe, and Galicia is the extreme case: with permanent summer time, sunrise in winter months would occur around 9 AM. In A Coruña, the sun would not clearly rise until well into the workday. Conversely, in the Balearics, the same zone allows for longer afternoons and a tourism profile that, according to arguments, would not be harmed.

Health arguments versus biological clocks

The official defense relies on well-being and mental health. However, the human body is governed by sunlight, not the number on the clock. Advancing the clock does not advance sunrise: it only changes the label. Those entering school or office at 8 AM under summer time in January do so in total darkness, and those leaving at 18:00 also do so without light. Critics argue this results in an artificial daytime life that forces lights on mid-morning.

The counterpoint is the afternoon. With permanent UTC+2, light stretches until 17:00 or later in mid-winter, allowing time outside home after work. Defenders of the change point out that the problem is not the time zone, but work and school schedules disconnected from the sun: if entering at night is bothersome, the solution is delaying entry, not moving the hands. Meanwhile, defenders of winter time recall that leaving at 7:30 with light reduces traffic accidents during morning commutes.

Voting at 16, verified media, and protected pensions

Time was not the only outcome of the congress. Socialists approved modifying the LOREG (General Electoral System Act) so that those over 16 can vote, creating a citizen seat in the Congress, Senate, and regional parliaments, and reducing signatures needed for Popular Legislative Initiatives. They also committed to constitutionally protecting pension revaluation, same-sens marriage, voluntary termination of pregnancy, and gender parity.

In equality matters, the commission was the most conflictive. It approved removing the Q+ acronym and returning to the LGTBI umbrella, and amendments restricting participation in female categories to «persons with female biological sens» passed, practically excluding trans people. Feminist sectors celebrated this; queer-adjacent sectors responded with disqualifications. Regarding media, the congress backed obliging all outlets to publish their funding sources and requiring verification systems for media, social networks, and messaging apps to flag false content and discourage its circulation.

Regional funding: the pact that wasn't a fiscal concert

On funding, the agreement was sold as Solomonic. The PSOE commits to promoting a system that guarantees greater resources for all communities, but without bespoke fiscal concerts («concierto económico»): it will be approved «multilaterally within the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council». The most critical federation, Castilla-La Mancha, praised it because «it recognizes the uniqueness of all CCAA (Autonomous Communities) when discussing funding, not the uniqueness of some». Another federation added that «we all feel recognized». Contrary to expectations, the funding commission was one of the calmest.

Summer time and Spain's natural time zone

Mainland Spain sits almost directly on the Greenwich meridian. Geographically, it should correspond to GMT, shared by the UK, Ireland, and Portugal. The choice of Central European Time stems from a political decision during World War II, not latitude. Thus, some argue that staying in GMT year-round would be natural, adjusting work, school, and commerce hours to actual sunlight instead of moving the clock twice a year.

This is the core of the issue. Changing time is a collective decision imposed on everyone equally; adjusting opening and closing hours is a decision each company, school, or administration can make based on demand and latitude. Some call the former an ontological absurdity, while the latter is already done. Yet the debate remains stuck: no one has yet explained how to reconcile a permanent time zone with Galicia's real latitude without leaving half of Spain going to work in the dark.