EU plans to bring an end to daylight savings time after poll of citizens

84% of the 4.6 million people asked said they wanted the system of daylight savings time to end
Daylight savings: commuters make their way to work in London
AFP/Getty Images
Tom Powell31 August 2018

The EU plans to end daylight savings time for its citizens after a public consultation found millions of people wanted the system to end.

The European Commission said it will push the EU Parliament and member states to ditch the system of twice-yearly changes to the time.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said if that is what the people want, "we will make it happen".

EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc said 84% of the 4.6 million people who took part in the consultation "do not want the clocks to change anymore".

Jean-Claude Juncker said if that is what the people want, "we will make it happen"
AFP/Getty Images

Participation among member states varied widely, with 3.79% of Germans taking part compared to 0.02% of Brits.

Mr Juncker said it would make no sense to disregard people's wishes, indicating the European Commission proposal would go in that direction.

The European Parliament and EU member states would still need to approve the ending of the time change, and could impose further changes to the time system and, for example, decide whether it would be constant summer or winter.

Since 1996, the EU nations have moved the clock forward by one hour in March and back again in October.

It was harmonised across the bloc to meet concerns of the transport and logistics sectors in the single market. There are three standard time zones in the EU.

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