European Parliament Set To End EU-Wide Daylight Saving (dw.com)

The European Commission and European Parliament are set to end daylight saving time in 2021, at least in some states. "Now that the lead committee on transport and tourism has given its blessing, by a large majority, EU lawmakers could vote on the change by the end of March," reports Deutsche Welle. "After that, all 28 member states will need to rubberstamp the ruling." From the report: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's brash statement back in September, asserting that the amendment would go ahead quickly, has proven to be premature. At the time, Juncker was referring to an overwhelming response to an EU online survey, where an unexpected 80 percent of respondents said the practice of changing the clock twice a year was outdated. But the survey was not representative, with 3 million of the 4.6 million votes coming from Germany. This led to diplomats from smaller EU countries complaining behind closed doors that the European Commission wanted to impose German will on the other states through sheer populism.

Juncker was keen to abolish the twice-yearly time shift by spring, probably so he could claim, before European Parliament elections in May, that the will of the people had been reflected. But some member states demanded a transitional period up to 2021. Good things come to those who wait, it seems, especially in the EU. As a compromise for the repeal of the "Directive on summer time," spring or autumn in 2020 has now been suggested. This means that by June EU states will have to draw the lines for each time zone and decide what time those places will set their clocks to, and when. Some EU members -- including the United Kingdom, Greece and Portugal -- want to stick to the old rules and continue to switch between summer and winter time through the year. Cyprus, the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Ireland have not decided. The other states want to get rid of the twice-yearly change, but still have to decide which time will apply.

Comments

Re:Useful distractions from EU's real problems

[Anonymous Coward]

by the way the ECHR is not a EU institution, its member states are :

        Albania
        Andorra
        Armenia
        Austria
        Azerbaijan
        Belgium
        Bosnia and Herzegovina
        Bulgaria
        Croatia
        Cyprus
        Czech Republic
        Denmark
        Estonia
        Finland
        France
        Georgia
        Germany
        Greece
        Hungary
        Iceland
        Ireland
        Italy
        Latvia
        Liechtenstein
        Lithuania
        Luxembourg
        Malta
        Moldova
        Monaco
        Montenegro
        Netherlands
        North Macedonia1
        Norway
        Poland
        Portugal
        Romania
        Russia
        San Marino
        Serbia
        Slovakia
        Slovenia
        Spain
        Sweden
        Switzerland
        Turkey
        Ukraine
        United Kingdom

Surprise!

[thegarbz]

But the survey was not representative, with 3 million of the 4.6 million votes coming from Germany. This led to diplomats from smaller EU countries complaining behind closed doors that the European Commission wanted to impose German will on the other states through sheer populism.

I'm pretty sure we at Slashdot called it. When you make a decision based on a marketing campaign of a small vocal minority don't expect a smooth change.

Re:Surprise!

[AmiMoJo]

This is both a flawed understanding of surveys and a flawed understanding of how EU democracy works.

There have been calls for this from elected EU representatives for years. The survey was just to gauge public opinion. That more responses came from Germany isn't really an issue - you can just break it down by country and look at ratios individually, while also accounting for the fact that participants were self-selecting.

The way TFA phrases it is just to create some drama. In reality all those smaller states have a veto over this, but they probably won't oppose it in the end. They will compromise, maybe ask for some cash to help with the transition. They of course accept that being in a democracy means compromising, and getting the greater benefits of EU membership in exchange.

Re:Permanent DST is evil

[acoustix]

From time to time the argument works. Because this is really about the kids. I know that in rural areas around here, kids still walk to school. And walking about alone in the dark is scary.

I live in a rural area as well. We have no problems. Nor did our parents, grandparents or great grandparents.