European Parliament opts for scrapping seasonal time change by 2021

European Parliament opts for scrapping seasonal time change by 2021

The European Parliament is in favour of scrapping the seasonal time change throughout the European Union by 2021. Countries wishing to keep summer time would make their final change on the last Sunday of March 2021, under a proposal approved on Tuesday by members of the European Parliament. Those wishing to stick to standard or winter time would make their last switch in October 2021.

In September last, following a public consultation, the European Commission recommended scrapping the seasonal time change as early as 2019, but both Member States and the European Parliament judged the deadline too short.

In the text they adopted on Tuesday, the Euro-parliamentarians also called on EU countries and the European Commission to coordinate their decisions to make sure the application of summer time in some countries and winter time in others does not disrupt the internal market, according to a press release from the European Parliament.

The switch from summer time to winter time and vice versa is regulated by a 2001 directive. All European States change their time in the last weekend of March and the last weekend of October. However, summer time had already been introduced in 1977 with a view to saving on energy, although the effectiveness of this measure is contested.


The Brussels Times


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