Today: Friday, 19 April 2024 year

EU backs ending daylight saving time, says Juncker

EU backs ending daylight saving time, says Juncker

The European Union’s parliament resolution says clocks switch between winter and summer is crucial to maintaining a unified EU time regime, BBC reported.

Jean Claude Juncker said that EU carried out a survey, and millions responded and believe that in future, summertime should be year-round. In his Friday interview for the German TV, the EC President told about health impacts from the clock changes.

“Findings suggest that the effect on the human biorhythm may be more severe than previously thought,”

the EC report says while Mr Juncker added:

“I will recommend to the commission that, if you ask the citizens, then you have to do what the citizens say. We will decide on this today, and then it will be the turn of the member states and the European Parliament.”

Clocks go forward by an hour on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the last Sunday in October.

Finland called for daylight saving to be abolished EU-wide after a petition gathered more than 70,000 signatures from citizens calling for such a change. Meanwhile, the UK is one of the 28 members but is due to leave the European Union in March 2019. Any change would be unlikely to happen before then. However, previous calls for the UK to remain permanently on summer time have proved unpopular in Scotland where people claimed the even darker winter mornings would make it more dangerous for youngsters heading to school.

Mediterranean countries such as Cyprus, Greece and Malta were most against abolishing clock changes. Daylight saving has been a twice-yearly event in the UK since 1916.