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Why Europe's changing of the clocks 'no longer makes sense'

AFP
AFP - news@thelocal.com
Why Europe's changing of the clocks 'no longer makes sense'
Changing the clocks in Europe no longer makes sense. Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Citizens across the European Union will be turning their clocks back an hour this Sunday, but Brussels believes the time has come for the 27-nation bloc to stop the practice once and for all.

The European Union first suggested abolishing the biannual clock changes in 2018, but despite support from the bloc's lawmakers, the proposal has been gathering dust due to opposition from some member states.

Under EU rules, laws proposed by the EU executive based in Brussels need approval from the European Parliament and states.

Just days before clocks go back, EU lawmakers put the subject back on the agenda with a debate Thursday.

Kickstarting the discussion in the parliament in Strasbourg, EU transport chief Apostolos Tzitzikostas told lawmakers clock changes should end and vowed the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, remained focused on the issue.

"The commission has decided to undertake further analysis through a detailed study that we are working on right now, to support future decision making on this issue," he said.

"My goal is to move forward. The time has come to finally stop the seasonal changes of time every year," he added.

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Spain revives the debate

Research shows moving the clock back and forth in autumn and spring hurts the economy as well as people's health.

Previous reform plans floated by Brussels have suggested letting each member state decide whether to stay year-round on either winter or summer time.

Tzitzikostas said the current system "affects us all, frustrates most, and even I would say harms people."

Following the 1970s oil crisis, the practice of moving the clocks forward in spring was implemented to save energy.

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But the commissioner argued it "no longer produces any energy savings". And as the EU's internal market has grown closer, different summer times across the bloc pose problems for the energy and transport sectors.

Tzitzikostas said he was in contact with EU states to push forward the issue -- which has public support.

Nearly four million people in the bloc's then 28 member states -- before Britain formally exited -- gave their support in an open consultation in 2018.

Thursday's debate comes after Spain revived the discussion at the EU energy ministers' level on Monday, backed by Poland and Finland, an EU diplomat said.

"Changing the time twice a year no longer makes sense. It barely helps save energy and has a negative effect on people's health and lives," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday on X.

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Comments (6)

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andrew
My understanding is that many digital systems automatically switch between summer and winter time, and updating them will be expensive. This is why it is not easy to remove the clock change. However, can't we do it effectively by changing which clock we go to work/school without changing these digital systems?
Tony O'Rourke
I'd go a step further and suggest looking at Double Summer Time. DST was implemented in the UK during World War II to maximize daylight and conserve fuel, effectively putting the country two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. I think that would be a real winner right across the EU.
Christian
It only makes sense to have one time zone for all of Europe - which is of course a political rather than geographical decision. Yes, Europe is spread wider than Ione time zone based on the meridian, but everyone will get used to it. Personally I think the UK and Ireland should join them
Maggs
So now it just needs the Spanish government to revert to the correct time zone for Spain's geographical position. The = meridian runs through Castellon, so most of the country is well west of that, and yet Spain stays in the same time zone as Germany and Eastern Europe. Franco changed to UTC+1 as a favour to Adolf Hitler in 1940, but surely it's now time to join Portugal and the UK by returning to UTC+0?
Mike
Just do it finally

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