Twice a year the same question arises. seasonal? The European Commission held a public consultation and won the yes (to repeal it) by an overwhelming majority. The European Parliament held a vote and ditto, a consensus was born to stop moving the hands of the clock.
So why? Yes, even the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, got involved in the issue in October of last year, when in a public appearance he encouraged the European Union to make the decision now. Just around that time, the Transport Commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostasintervened in the European Parliament to explain where this debate was at.
The reason why the Twenty-seven continue to change the hands of the clock twice a year is very simple. Despite the fact that the Commission was already in favor in the previous legislature and that the European Parliament even approved a declaration urging it to stop making these time changes immediately, the Council of the European Union has not yet made a decision.
In the European Union, decisions must be made collectively. Legislative initiatives, for example, are discussed in the European Parliament and in the Counciloand then both parties must negotiate the common points of the different texts on which they have been working. In something as important as changing or not changing winter and summer time, the same thing happens.
No consensus waiting for a new study: when will the time change debate be reactivated
The problem is that although the Commission and Parliament have already agreed to this, the Council has not. And the reason is none other than that there is no understanding between EU countries about when and how to vary the time change. In reality it is logical, it is an important change with aspects that have not been publicly debated, not even in Spain. What schedule would be the perpetual one? The winter one? The summer one?
Already in 2019, the Ministers of Transport They asked for “time” for this debate. It’s actually been six years since then. When Finland introduced the debate on the agenda of the Council of the European Union (it presided over the body for much of 2019) it did not propose any preferential schedule. The Council is now chaired by Cyprus, and from July it will be chaired by Ireland. In Ireland there does seem to be more sympathy for daylight saving time.
The problem is that although Sánchez proposed in October last year to speed up this debate, Commissioner Tzitzikostas himself referred to a “study” that would be presented by the Commission at the end of this year. The Council of the European Union itself seems to be waiting for said reportwhich is why this matter has not been discussed again. The wait seems eternal, but this issue will be raised again at the end of the year.
When this study is known, for which at the moment there is no specific presentation date, all the community bureaucratic machinery will be activated to clarify whether or not the time changes have their days numbered.
The US could overtake the European Union with its time changes
The paradox arises that although this issue began to be debated in Brussels in the last decade, it is now The US is the country that could overtake the Old Continent putting an end to time changes.
It has been in this country where the Georgia State Senate has passed a law. The text proposes that the state change its time zone and remain in it all year round. Although the Trump Administration’s Secretary of Transportation will have the last word, pressure from more states could make the idea of moving the hands of the clock come to pass in a large part of the United States sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, don’t forget: this saturday night The clocks will have to be changed both in the Canary Islands and on the Peninsula. At 02:00 it will be 03:00.
