Europe turns clocks 1 hour back as debate over Daylight Saving Time resurfaces

ISTANBUL

Europe will turn its clocks back one hour early Sunday morning, marking the end of Daylight Saving Time as renewed calls echo across the continent to scrap the biannual time change altogether.

At 3 am on Sunday, clocks across Europe will revert to 2 am, ushering in standard winter time.

The practice, first introduced during the First World War to conserve energy, has been a fixture of European life for decades.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said earlier this week that his government would push to end the seasonal clock change, arguing that the system “barely helps save energy and has a negative impact on people’s health and lives," El Pais reported.

Belgian MEP Saskia Bricmont echoed those concerns, noting that studies show minimal energy savings and link the biannual adjustment to disrupted sleep patterns, depression, and even higher stroke risks, The Brussels Times reported.

In 2018, the European Commission proposed abolishing Daylight Saving Time after a public consultation showed 84% of 4.6 million respondents across the bloc supported scrapping it.

Although the European Parliament approved the proposal in 2019, it has since stalled in the EU Council, where member states have failed to reach an agreement.

“As each clock change reignites the debate, we could put an end to this issue if member states finally decided to follow the opinion of the 84% of Europeans who no longer want to change the time,” Bricmont said.

European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas told lawmakers on Thursday that with modern technology, the seasonal time change “no longer produces any energy savings” and has become “a source of unnecessary complication.”

The European Commission said it continues to seek a “coordinated solution” among member states and will soon launch a new study to inform future decisions on the matter.