{"id":11792,"date":"2026-04-17T00:33:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T00:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/11792\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T00:33:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T00:33:23","slug":"brussels-proposes-mandating-one-day-of-remote-working-spain-calls-for-caution-and-voluntary-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/11792\/","title":{"rendered":"Brussels proposes mandating one day of remote working; Spain calls for \u2018caution\u2019 and voluntary participation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish government\u2019s spokesperson, Elma Saiz, called on Thursday for \u201ctotal prudence and caution\u201d regarding the draft proposal from the European Commission<\/a>, which suggests establishing one day of remote working per week as a cost-saving measure in response to the energy crisis<\/a> caused by the conflict in the Middle East. In an interview on 3Cat, Saiz emphasised that Spain<\/a> \u201cis better prepared than others\u201d and is approaching this situation \u201chaving done its homework on energy matters\u201d.<\/p>\n

She highlighted that the impact of gas on electricity bills has halved since 2021, falling from 52% to \u201caround 26%\u201d today. The minister made any final assessment of the implementation of the measure proposed by Brussels<\/a> in Spain contingent on the document being formally presented next Monday. \u201cWe are talking about a draft that will be made public next week; when the Commission puts it forward, we will listen,\u201d she said. Asked about workers\u2019 uncertainty regarding the possible requirement to stay at home to save energy, Saiz insisted that, for the time being, this is merely a proposal under consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to drafts, I speak of realities,\u201d stated the minister, who recalled that the government is monitoring the situation \u2018day by day\u2019 to mitigate the effects of rising oil prices and inflation on the cost of living<\/a>. Meanwhile, the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Economy, Yolanda D\u00edaz, stated on Thursday that she is not in favour of making teleworking compulsory and that this option should be voluntary. This was D\u00edaz\u2019s response in an interview with Onda Cero.<\/p>\n

When asked about a document that Brussels is considering approving shortly, which proposes introducing one day of compulsory remote working to cut energy costs resulting from the effects of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. \u201cI am not in favour of forcing anyone to do anything. I believe the principle should be voluntary participation,\u201d emphasised the minister, who pointed out that Spain already has a Teleworking Act, the result of an agreement reached through social dialogue, which allows Spanish companies to make use of remote working, but on a voluntary basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is true that in every crisis, such as during the storm and recent events, we always recall that teleworking, or remote working, is one of the measures,\u201d noted the minister, adding that many of the \u201crecommendations\u201d Brussels is currently working on are already in place in Spain. Furthermore, she stated that the impact of the war in Iran on Spain is not the same as that being felt by \u201cmany of the other Member States in Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said Spain \u201chas done its homework\u201d on remote working and approved \u201cmany years ago\u201d a regulatory framework for remote working, the result of social dialogue and a tripartite agreement. \u201cWhat Europe is doing is making a recommendation, but above all it is directed at Member States that do not have any legislation regulating this matter,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish government\u2019s spokesperson, Elma Saiz, called on Thursday for \u201ctotal prudence and caution\u201d regarding the draft proposal from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,6319,218,8021,277,8020,5831,8017,2344,8019,116,396,8018],"class_list":["post-11792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brussels","tag-cost-of-living","tag-crisis","tag-digital-nomads","tag-european-commission","tag-fuel-prices","tag-latest-headlines","tag-majorca","tag-mallorca","tag-remote-teaching","tag-spain","tag-war","tag-working-from-home"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116417239745479769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}