The EU is once again pushing to abolish seasonal time changes

The European Commissioner for Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, has initiated a new round of talks with the European Council and the European Parliament on abolishing the switch to summer and winter time. The position of the relevant department is based on the view that changing the clocks is an outdated measure that harms public health, complicates the work of the transport sector and no longer brings any real energy savings. The European Commission will formulate a final decision and a plan of further steps after completing a comprehensive study assessing the impact of this reform on the single market, safety and energy, which is due by the end of 2026.

The background and reasons for freezing the reform:
— In 2018, in a Europe-wide survey, 84% of 4.6 million EU residents spoke out against changing the clocks.
— In 2019, the European Parliament approved a bill under which countries were to fix a permanent time (winter or summer, at their choice) by 2021, but the process was halted by the coronavirus pandemic.
— The main obstacle in the Council of the EU remains the risk of a «time chaos» in the single market due to uncoordinated time zones. No EU country has the right to abolish the clock change unilaterally before the common directive is amended.
— An additional problem is Ireland’s position: if the directive is abolished and the current system remains in place in the United Kingdom (after Brexit), Ireland and Northern Ireland will be in different time zones for six months, which Dublin considers economically and politically unacceptable.

A real return of the issue to a vote in the EU Council is not expected before January 2027, when the presidency will pass to Lithuania. Until the current rules are changed, the current schedule remains in force: on the last Sunday in October (25 October 2026), residents of European countries will once again turn their clocks back by one hour.