Catalonia wants to streamline public timetable

Catalonia has a kind of “jet lag” compared with timetables in the rest of the world, and the country now wants to regain the two hours it lags behind other areas. As a result, 100 organizations and the Catalan government signed an agreement on Monday to streamline the public timetable by 2025. The Timetable Reform Initiative aims to achieve more reasonable working hours and a better balance between work and family, as well as establishing healthier habits. The initiative wants the country to return to Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) in five main spheres: employment, education, culture, administration and trade.

The agreement signed on Monday brought together institutions, associations, trade unions and other organizations, but was not signed by opposition groups, who say the objectives are “far from the citizens’ expectations.” At the signing, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont praised the willingness of the organizations to reach agreement from the beginning and for identifying a problem with how time is used in Catalonia. According to Puigdemont, Catalan society wastes time, which means the country has no future. The head of the Catalan administration encouraged Catalan society to make the best of the new industrial revolution to change the way time is spent and gain “sovereignty” over it.