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EU to recommend that member states abolish daylight saving time EU to recommend that member states abolish daylight saving time
(35 minutes later)
The European commission will recommend EU member states abolish daylight saving time, where clocks are advanced by one hour in summer, Jean-Claude Juncker has said. The European commission will recommend that EU member states abandon the practice of changing the clocks in spring and autumn in favour of staying on summer time throughout the year.
“We carried out a survey, millions responded and believe that in future, summer time should be year-round, and that’s what will happen,” he told the German public broadcaster ZDF, adding that the commission planned to decide on the matter later on Friday. Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission’s president, said that a recent consultation had shown that more than 80% of EU citizens were in favour of the move.
“I will recommend to the commission that, if you ask the citizens, then you have to do what the citizens say,” said Juncker, the commission president. “We will decide on this today, and then it will be the turn of the member states and the European parliament.” “We carried out a survey, millions responded and believe that in future, summer time should be year-round, and that’s what will happen,” he told the German broadcaster ZDF, adding the commission was due to make a decision later on Friday.
An online poll suggested that more than 80% of Europeans were against the biannual ritual of adjusting clocks forward by one hour in the spring and then back an hour in the autumn, an established practice across most of Europe and North America. “I will recommend to the commission that, if you ask the citizens, then you have to do what the citizens say,” said Juncker. “We will decide on this today, and then it will be the turn of the member states and the European parliament.”
EU law requires that citizens in all 28 EU countries move their clocks an hour forward on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the final Sunday in October. Any change would still need approval from national governments and the European parliament to become law.
But Finland, with the most northerly EU national capital, this year called for the EU to halt the practice. Under current EU legislation citizens in all 28 EU countries have been required to move their clocks an hour forward on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the final Sunday in October.
Proponents of daylight saving time say more evening daylight hours in summer help save energy and bolster productivity. The online poll suggested that more than 80% of Europeans were against the annual ritual of changing the clocks, a practice used across most of Europe and North America.
Opponents argue that some people cannot easily adapt to the change and feel it has a short-term negative impact on their health. Proponents of daylight saving have said the longer evening daylight hours in the summer help save energy and bolster productivity.
A handful of European countries have stopped switching between summer and winter time, including Russia, Turkey, Belarus and Iceland. But opponents have argued that some people cannot easily adapt to the change and feel it has a short-term negative impact on their health.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report Finland, which has the most northerly EU national capital, has called for the bloc to drop the biannual switch, while Lithuania has urged a review of the current system to take into account regional and geographical differences.
“The commission regularly receives feedback from citizens on the summertime issue, which often refer to what they perceive as negative health impacts of the disruptive time change relating to sleep deprivation and other kinds of negative consequences,” the commission said.
“However, some also ask that the current system be maintained, as they believe it has positive effects.”
The commission said in the consultation it had two choices: to keep the current EU summertime arrangements, or to drop the biannual changes and allow individual member states to decide whether they wanted to adopt permanent summer or winter time, or a different time.
Outside the EU, a handful of European countries have stopped switching between summer and winter time, including Russia, Turkey, Belarus and Iceland.
Issues of clocks, hours and working days are much discussed in Spain, which has been stranded in the wrong time zone for decades. In 2013, a parliamentary commission recommended that Spain shift its clocks back one hour.
Although the country used to be on the same time as the UK and Portugal, it has run an hour ahead since 1942, when General Francisco Franco moved it forward in solidarity with Hitler’s Germany. The commission also suggested that the long Spanish working day – including a two- or three-hour lunch break – be altered to resemble the 9am to 5pm model.
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