The puente is to become a thing of the past, the new Spanish government has announced. Yes, the extra day off, el puente (bridge), that many workers traditionally take between the weekend and an official holiday, is to be no more.

As one of the PP government’s measures to combat la crisis, prime minister Mariano Rajoy has declared that most días festivos will be moved to the nearest Monday, as is the norm in the UK.

This surely makes a lot of sense from a business point of view, as each time a puente occurs it costs the country 215 million euros! Taking fewer days off in the week should help the cash-strapped Spanish economy to recover a little.

All the Spanish need to do now is start work earlier and abolish the siesta, to fall in line with other countries.

But that issue goes to the heart of Spanish culture and is another debate entirely .....

© Paul Whitelock

See also:

New government in Spain - Rajoy’s plans

The Guardian

The Olive Press

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