The European Parliament’s Transport Committee approved a resolution on Monday to end seasonal time changes, proposing that the final Sunday of March 2021 be the last such change for EU countries wishing to stay on summer time. Those wishing to remain at standard or winter time would be able to change over for the last time in October this year, according to the resolution, which was approved by 23 votes to 11.
After a public consultation in summer 2018, the European Commission had recommended, in September, to scrap the time changes this year. However, Member States as well as the European Parliament judged the timeframe excessively short.
In the text approved on Monday, the parliamentarians also called on EU countries to coordinate with one another before making any changes.
The switch to daylight saving time and back to normal time is regulated by a 2001 European directive. All European States change their times in the last weekend of March and the last weekend of October. However, the introduction and/or reintroduction of daylight saving time dates back to 1977 and is motivated by the aim of saving on energy, even thoughts its effectiveness in this regard is contested.
Once Monday’s resolution is approved by the full European Parliament, it will form the parliamentarians’ position for negotiations with the European Council of Ministers.
The Brussels Times
