The time change has not yet been abolished – and probably will not be for the foreseeable future. What is currently failing.
Kassel – Since 1980, time in Germany has changed twice a year: from winter to summer in March and from summer to winter in October. But it is not popular, time change – after all, it causes one every time Mini jet lag for the body. In an online poll conducted by the EU Commission in 2018, 4.6 million Europeans voted on the future of time change and overwhelmingly favored abolishing it.
As a result, the European Union Parliament voted in favor To eliminate the time change from 2021: Clocks to be changed for the last time in March 2021. But this date has long passed, and the next time the change to winter time is approaching on the night of October 30. What happened to the plan to stop the time change? And when will the time warp stop? An overview of the current situation.
Summer, Winter, Standard Time
In everyday life, people usually talk about summer and winter – in fact, in Germany the time that applies from the end of October to the end of March (CET) is called standard time or standard time. Since standard time applies to winter, the term winter has become common.
When will the time shift go away? This is the current situation
After the EU Parliament backed the EU Commission’s proposal to end the time change in 2019, the next step is for the member states of the Council of Europe. “The ball is now in the hands of the member states because it is up to them to find a common position in the Council,” said Nicola John, press officer at the European Commission. On the opposite side RegionalHeute.de. Not much has happened since then: “The Council has not yet formed a position on the Commission’s proposal,” the local portal quoted a spokesperson as saying. The issue was last discussed at the European Council in December 2019.
One reason is Why is it not progressing?: Abolishing time change would have several effects – for example, it should prevent a patchwork of different time zones in the EU. However, depending on geographic location, some countries find it more beneficial to keep summer constant, while other countries find winter more beneficial. With constant summer time, the sun rises very late in winter in the West, while it gets dark very early in the East with constant winter. However, the daunting patchwork of time zones can be a problem, especially in tourism and the economy. The European Union currently has a large unified time zone, from Spain in the west to Poland in the east.
Abolition of time change: Countries must decide on time zones
The EU Presidency decides which proposals are on the agenda of the European Council. The current Czech Presidency does not stop the time change in its programme. The agenda for the first half of 2023 has not yet been published, so it is not yet clear whether Sweden, which will take over the presidency from January 1, will put the issue on the agenda. Even if the matter ends up in the council, it should by no means happen quickly – the matter is too complicated.
| UTC/GMT (Daylight Saving Time: UTC+1) | Canary Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, United Kingdom |
| Central European Time (Daylight Saving Time: UTC+2) | Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark (mainland), France (mainland), Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain (mainland), Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic |
| Eastern European Time (Daylight Saving Time: UTC+3) | Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Kaliningrad, Russia |
| Moscow time (no daylight saving time) | Belarus, European part of Russia, Ukraine: Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk only |
| They are: timeanddate.de |
It looks like the time shift will last a while longer. In fact, there is no other country where this topic plays as prominent a role as it does in Germany: of the nearly 4.6 million people who took part in an online survey in 2018, two-thirds were from Germany. However, this does not mean that many people took part in the polls to eliminate the time change in this country: just under 3.8 percent of the population took part in the survey – the highest turnout in Europe. (tab)
Prone to fits of apathy. Unable to type with boxing gloves on. Internet advocate. Avid travel enthusiast. Entrepreneur. Music expert.
