Eight Years After European Commission Proposed Ending Clock Changes, EU Is Still Stuck: ‘Hard-Level Effectiveness’
For eight years, since the European Commission proposed abolishing the clock change in the EU, member states in the Council of the EU have failed to settle the issue, European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said. As a result, this weekend we will turn our clocks back one hour, she added.
On the night from Saturday (Oct. 24) to Sunday (Oct. 25), the clocks will change from summer time to winter time. That means moving the hands back from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Twice a year, with the switch from summer time to winter time and back again, the question of abandoning clock changes altogether returns in the EU. In 2018, the European Commission came forward with such a proposal and, as its spokeswoman declared on Friday, it continues to support it.
“Our position has remained unchanged since 2018, when we presented the co-legislators with a proposal on this matter. Member states are in the best position to decide on time. Since then, and eight years have now passed, this proposal has been stuck in the Council of the EU. Member states have not yet reached an agreement, but we are ready to work constructively with them to make that happen,” Itkonen said.
In its proposal from eight years ago, the Commission left it up to member states to decide whether to stay on summer time or winter time. That raised concerns among capitals that countries would not be able to coordinate the changes and that a “time mosaic” would emerge in the EU. Some countries would prefer to stay on winter time, while in others summer time would work better.
As a result, the Commission announced that it would present an analysis that could support member states’ decision-making. “I can’t yet give a date when we will be able to present its results, but the study will cover various aspects related to the clock change,” the spokeswoman said.
Itkonen recalled that the issue of moving the clock hands came up in Europe as early as World War I. “Later, the solution was abandoned for a time, but in light of the current energy crisis, it is worth recalling that it was France, exactly 50 years ago, that reintroduced summer time as a response to the oil crisis, in order to save energy,” the Commission representative stressed.
Poland’s presidency of the Council of the EU in 2025 helped bring the issue back to the EU forum. Polish diplomats sounded out whether countries want to abolish the clock change at all. Many capitals declared readiness for further talks but also demanded data on the potential impact of ending the clock change on EU economies.
A public consultation conducted by the Commission in 2018 showed that, overall, 84% of Europeans want the clock change abolished. A year later, the CBOS polling center conducted a similar survey in Poland; at that time, 74% of Poles said they would like to stay on summer time. (PAP)
