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CLOCKS

France could be heading for permanent summer time as EU parliament votes to end changing of clocks

Lawmakers in the European parliament voted on Tuesday to end the traditional changing of the clocks in spring and autumn from 2021. That means France could be heading for permanent summer time.

Published: 26 March 2019 16:27 CET
France could be heading for permanent summer time as EU parliament votes to end changing of clocks
Photo: AFP

MEPs voted 410 to 192 in favour of ending the practice of changing the clocks forward and back in spring and autumn from 2021.

However the parliament said it should be up to each individual member state to decide whether to stick to summer time or winter time in future.

According to the legislation passed by parliament the EU member states that decide to stay on summer time will put their clocks forward for a final time in March 2021.

And those countries that prefer to stay on winter time will put their clocks back for the final time in Autumn 2021.

The bill is now the official position of the EU parliament, however it will be up to the European Council to make a final decision on whether the clocks stop in future.

The council – which is made up by the leaders of each member state – will have to vote unanimously for the change, but may be swayed by the fact the move would be popular among Europeans.

In a Europe-wide survey last year some 80 percent of Europeans voted in favour of stopping the clock changes, with most people appearing to prefer to stay on summer time rather than winter time.

“The changing of the clocks will be scrapped,” European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said last year adding that the idea would be to keep the whole of Europe on “summer time” all year-round.
 
“The people want it, so we will do it.” 
 
 
A recent citizen consultation on the time change collected more than 2 million responses, a record number.

And the results are clear: 83.71 percent of respondents want to end the time changes and the majority want to stay in summer time.

Launched by the Committee on European Affairs, this non-binding consultation “received 2,103, 999 replies between February 4th and its closure on March 3rd at midnight”, the committee said.

This is an absolute record for such a consultation, the previous ones being at best tens of thousands.

Initially introduced to save energy, the change of time in summer and winter in the EU – in force in France since 1976 – has been strongly opposed for years. Critics cite negative effects on sleep and health or road accidents, as well as the lack of real energy savings.

The clocks go forward at 1am on Sunday 31st March. 

 

 

Member comments

  1. Whilst the back and forth of Winter-Summer time seems outdated from its original purpose, isn’t there a case for “solar” time? This would start with the principle that when the sun is at its zenith overhead, it is 12 noon midday, whereas in France it would be 14h.00 with the new idea. Obviously allowances would need to be made for the mass and position of countries.

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CLOCKS

Why it’s time Spain turned back the clock forever

When the clocks go back in Spain this Sunday, many in Spain hope it will be for the last time.

Published: 25 October 2019 09:31 CEST
Why it's time Spain turned back the clock forever
The clock in Madrid's Puerta del Sol sets the time for Spain. Photo: Pablo Lopez/Flickr

When the EU announced a movement to abolish the practice of daylight saving last year, it particularly struck a chord in Spain, where many believe they are living in the wrong time zone.

Current convention has it that all of Europe changes its clocks back one hour during the night of the last Saturday in October and forward again on the last weekend of March.

The practice was introduced in the early 20th century as a way of making the most of the natural light and conserving fuel, but is considered by many to be obsolete.

EU wide movement against it

In 2018, the President of the EU Commission announced his plan to abolish the changing of the clocks after an online survey showed that Europeans are in favour of staying permanently on “summer time”.

Jean-Claude Juncker said he wanted to follow the wishes of the 80 percent of Europeans who voted to get rid of the seasonal changing of the clocks, so Europe could remain on Summer Time all year round.

But earlier this year the measure was postponed until 2021 to allow all the national government time to decide which time-zone they want to stick in. 

This means that European nations must communicate whether they choose summer or winter time, at the latest, by April 2020. If they opt for the first option, the last time change will take place in March 2021, while the clock will be changed for the last time in October 2021 in those nations that decide to stay with winter time.

READ MORE: EU aims to scrap turning the clocks back for winter 


Photo: AFP

Is Spain in the right time zone?

The EU-wide discussion ties in with a campaign within Spain to move the clocks back an hour permanently, ending a Franco-era legacy that has been in place more than 75 years.

Spain (apart from the Canary Islands) has been running on standard Central European Time (CET) zone, since 1942, when Spanish dictator Francisco Franco supposedly turned the clocks forward in solidarity with his allies, Nazi Germany. 

The change would make sense for Spain, which geographically lies further west than London, yet runs on the same time as the Serbian capital Belgrade, 2,500km (1,550 miles) to the east.



Map: Lmbuga/Wikimedia

The time difference also explains one of Spain’s most striking peculiarities: its late meal times. Despite the country running on CET, Spaniards' eating patterns mirror GMT; people tend to eat lunch at what would be 1pm in London (but 2pm in Spain) and dinner at a reasonable 8pm in London (but a yawn-inducing 9pm in Spain).

A parliamentary paper in 2013 recommended Spain return to GMT bringing it in line with the UK and Portugal. It also suggested that prime time television, which usually starts at around 10.30pm, be brought forward so Spaniards could go to bed earlier. 

Turning back the clocks one hour would, according to Nuria Chinchilla, professor at Spain’s IESE business school, help Spaniards “return to the natural order of our circadian rhythm (our 24-hour physiological cycle) that goes with the sun… and the sun in Greenwich, not Germany”.

“If we don’t (change time zones) we lengthen the day, eat very late and then don’t sleep,” she added.

José Canseco, a professor at EAE Business School and a member of National Commission for Rationalizing Spanish Timetables (ARHOE) argues that the reasons for changing the time zone twice annually are now obsolete.

 “The reasons why the time change was introduced (energy saving, fewer accidents, benefitting agriculture and livestock) are no longer in force: energy efficiency measures save much more energy, developments in infrastructure and advances in car technology prevent accidents (at night) and agriculture and livestock industries have made enough progress to not depend on one more hour of sunlight,” he said.

“In contrast, the impact of changing the time in some population groups – children, the elderly, pregnant women, or people with chronic diseases or pregnant women – is very high.

“On average, a person takes 4 days to adjust to the new schedule, but these groups can take up to two weeks to adjust.”


Photo: Justyna Rawińska / Flickr

Some opposition

Not everyone, however is in favour of putting the clocks back an hour. Not even just for winter.

The Balearic Islands want to introduce a measure that will see time stand still across the archipelago, or at least will see the islands keep summertime when the rest of Spain turns the clocks.

MPs from all parties in the Balearic parliament support the initiative that argues that the hour change is bad for islands that depend so much on daylight.

Given their easterly location, the sun sets over the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera almost an hour earlier than in the westernmost parts of Spain’s peninsula.

READ MORE: Balearic Islands choose to keep summertime forever

Keeping summertime, they argue, could also bring an economic boost, bringing more tourism during the winter months and keeping down electricity bills.

The Canary Islands, which get their own mention on the hour on every radio station, have also rejected any permanent time zone change for Spain arguing that it “in no case” wants to have the same time zone as the mainland.

Spain is yet to decide

In the wake of the EU decision, Spain approved the creation of a commission of experts to study the consequences of scrapping the hour change and settlling permanently on either Summer or Winter time.

A group of 14 experts are preparing reports on how Spaniards could be adversly affected, especially those in the most vulnerable population groups. They are also tasked with looking at how the different schedules influence social, environmental and economic sustainability.