European clocks will be set back one hour on Sunday, October 26, to bring winter time into effect. It will be in effect until March 29, 2026, when Europe will turn the clocks back and return to summer time. However, Spain has decided to reopen the long-standing debate on whether there should be such a time change or not, reports the Spanish EFE agency, quoted by BTA.
The practice, first introduced by the German Empire during World War I to save energy, was revived after the oil crisis in the 1970s and harmonized within the European Community in 1980.
Every autumn, however, the debates about the meaning The practice is being revived. Spain considers the time change to be an outdated measure and has officially requested a resumption of the discussion within the European Union, putting the issue on the agenda of yesterday's meeting of energy ministers in Luxembourg.
“Changing the time twice a year no longer makes sense. It saves almost no energy and has a negative impact on people's health and daily life“, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a video address yesterday.
Spain first implemented the time change in 1918. The practice has been introduced without interruption since 1974. However, according to a national survey from 2023, 67% of Spaniards support its abolition. The Energy Ministry in Madrid notes that the evidence for real savings is “increasingly weak“ as “the energy system has evolved significantly“.
Finland, Poland and the European Commission supported the Spanish initiative. In 2018, the Commission proposed abolishing summer time after Finland raised the issue a year earlier. A public consultation involving 4.5 million Europeans showed that 84% were against the time change. This led to the adoption of a directive by the European Parliament in 2019 that would have ended the clock change by 2021, but the initiative remained blocked in the Council of the EU.
Poland tried unsuccessfully to reopen the discussion earlier this year, and Irish MEP Sean Kelly called on the Danish EU presidency to restart the negotiations. “Scientific evidence shows that the time change disrupts sleep, increases health risks and leads to more road accidents“, he said. Kelly.
The European Parliament will revisit the issue this week, but diplomatic sources told EFE that progress has been limited and that the situation is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Support for ending daylight saving time varies across EU countries. In Germany, 70% of citizens consider it "pointless", according to data from the Forza agency. In Sweden (58%) and Denmark (56%) the majority are also against it, according to a 2023 survey by the "Jugov".
Portugal, Greece and Cyprus have previously spoken out against scrapping the current system, while France has said it is open to discussion.
A qualified majority in the EU Council is needed for a change to be adopted, i.e. support from at least 15 member states representing 65% of the population. EU.
Around the world, about 70 countries, covering a third of the world's population, still change their clocks.
Most countries in Africa, as well as China, Japan, South Korea and India, do not. In recent years, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Namibia, Russia, Turkey and Uruguay have also stopped the practice.