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online survey, where an unexpected 80 percent of respondents said the practice of changing the clock twice a year was outdated.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

UK

[Anne Thwacks]

I am pretty sure a majority in the UK wand to get rid of changing the clocks. However none of us were told about this survey.

Now we have a situation where the Brexiteer propaganda machine has won a huge victory because "The EU" is imposing on us what we actually want, so of course we don't want it. (We are totally committed to cutting of our noses to spite our faces as well as shooting our selves in the foot).

It is the British way!

Re:UK

[Anonymous Coward]

The EU is under-represented in the UK. In other countries you see it everywhere - anything funded by EU money has an EU flag on it, and institutions are proud to mention that they are doing stuff with or funded by the EU. The media is much more engaged with what the EU is doing and doesn't consider it a separate organization, it's another democratic institution along side the national government.

That's why the UK was so vulnerable to brexit. People really thought it was like some kind of club they could just cancel their membership of and walk away. Someone guy on the TV was talking about how upset he was because he thought that a few days after the vote the UK would be out - he didn't even read the official Leave campaign's leaflet apparently.

And that kind of arrogant attitude from EU is exactly the reason for brexit. First you take 13 bil GBP as a membership fee, then in thy holy graciousness and benevolence deign to give 4 bil GBP of that back as a funding for various projects, and then expect the Brits to kiss the ground in front of thy holy feet in slavering gratitude, and pretty much tattoo a "funded by EU" logo on the forehead of anyone who came within 10 kilometers of that money.

Well, guess what, that doesn't seem to sit very well with the Brits, and I find it really hard to blame them.

Citation for numbers: https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/

Re:UK

[dave420]

You don't seem to be aware of the massive benefits to business (and therefor the government via taxes) from being in the EU. It's not just a matter of working out if payments to the EU are greater than payments from the EU. And that doesn't even factor in the number of EU workers propping up vital institutions like the NHS, or the EU immigrants who are paying more taxes than they get from the government, etc. etc. etc.

You're proving their point - people who don't understand the EU being angry about the EU.

Re:UK

[thegarbz]

First you take 13 bil GBP as a membership fee, then in thy holy graciousness and benevolence deign to give 4 bil GBP of that back as a funding for various projects

Yep and that's all you got for 13bn. 4bn back. You certainly didn't get access to a wide range of markets, institutions, technology, partnerships, or anything else that contributed to your economy. And that is perfectly reflected in the fact that when Brexit was announced nothing changed. I mean it's not like your economy started massively under performing, or that companies relocated their headquarters, right?

Membership in the EU is nothing more than a financial transaction where you pay money in exchange for putting a flag on a flagpole. /incredibly-bewildered-sarcasm.

Permanent DST is evil

[Erik Hensema]

Problem with DST is that people don't understand the consequences of their choices. An oft heard argument is that one wants to keep DST year round, because they're a night dweller and they like the extra hour of light at the end of the day in winter too.
What they don't understand is there is also an extra hour of dark at the start of the day. They'll have to get up an hour earlier in winter because of permanent DST. Consequently they'll have to go to bed an hour earlier. Exactly the opposite a night dweller would want.

Personally I don't care if we abandon DST. I live in the Netherlands, which is quite northerly. We get about 8 hours of sunlight in winter, and 16 hours in summer. But please for the love of god don't establish DST year round. I'd like to have the sun up before 9:30 please.

Re:Permanent DST is evil

[thegarbz]

What they don't understand is there is also an extra hour of dark at the start of the day.

And? It's night when we get up, it's night when we're at work. That is EXACTLY what we want. Shitty useless lack of sunshine during work hours, and nice useful sunshine during pleasure hours.

They'll have to get up an hour earlier in winter because of permanent DST.

Actually they'll get up at the exact same local time.

But please for the love of god don't establish DST year round. I'd like to have the sun up before 9:30 please.

Nope, screw the sun in the morning. We don't need it.

Re:What a bunch of Cnuts

[nagora]

Fuck off?