Winter time returns this weekend. On Sunday we will all be able to sleep an extra hour. Credit: Freepik.
Czech Rep, Oct 30 (BD) – On Sunday evening the clocks should go back by one hour, from 3am to 2am. Winter time will remain in effect until March 26th, 2022.
On March 27th, 2022 (the last Sunday in March), daylight saving time will return, as determined by European law which requires all member states to switch to daylight saving time on the last Sunday in March and to return at winter time on the last Sunday of October.
Summer time was adopted by the European Union in 1980 to reduce energy consumption and make the most of daylight hours. Gradually regulations were introduced to approve the time change between member states, but two years ago the switch to daylight savings was questioned.
The Commission had already organized a public consultation in summer 2018 which received 4.6 million responses, the highest number ever reached by a public consultation organized by the European Commission: 84% of respondents expressed support for the abolition of seasonal clock changes.
Therefore, in 2019 the European Commission asked the Parliament and the Council of the European Union to revise the summer time directive, but since there was no unanimity among the member states, the proposal was blocked.
For Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Spain, the benefits on the time change are evident both for the duration of the days and for energy saving, while the countries of Northern Europe – which proposed the abolition of the time – do not derive any benefit from the introduction of summer time, having already many hours of daylight in the summer.
