In fact, the matter seemed to be clear: in an online survey of the European Commission, the vast majority of participants voted to end the changeover. Quite free of criticism, the vote was not – so came a majority of the votes from Germany. Nevertheless, the result should actually be done next year. But now it turns out that it is not quite that fast. At least, a decision of the responsible ministers has now been postponed. In principle, there is agreement that the time change should be abolished. But it is still unclear which time should apply instead: winter or summer time?
In 2021, the time change is supposed to be history
This is critical, because the European Union can only decide centrally to abolish the time change. However, each individual member state can decide for itself in which time zone it is sorted. If this happens uncoordinated, a huge patchwork of mats within Europe threatens. But this is exactly what should be avoided, which is why more time is now available for negotiations. The compromise proposal of the EU Presidency now foresees the binding abolition of the time change for the year 2021. Until then, there would be enough time to continue to find a uniform regulation from Poland to Spain. For the citizens, this would mean turning the clock at least four more times.
The European Parliament still has to agree
Besides the representatives of the individual member states, the majority of the European Parliament also has to agree to the change. There, a consent is considered as reasonably safe. However, this could change if it fails to subsequently re-create a unified Central European time zone. Scientists usually advocate the introduction of permanent winter time – and sometimes warn even before the introduction of summer time. Ultimately, however, it is a purely political decision for which variant is decided. The respondents had indeed spoken out for the permanent summer time. But this was probably mainly because the survey took place in the summer.
