Is an abolishment of daylight saving time on the horizon?

8 February 2018

For the first time ever, European Parliament will seriously consider abolishing daylight saving time. For quite some time now, scientific research has indicated that some people, namely children, the elderly and people with health issues, have considerable difficulty with it. “The hour change also hardly provides the intended energy saving,” says MEP Mark Demesmaeker. “So let’s call it a day with this obsolete custom.”

Daylight saving time was introduced in 1977. The purpose was - right in the middle of the oil crisis - to save energy. Forty years later, that energy saving appears to be extremely limited. At the same time, the negative consequences have become much clearer. “For example, there are more heart attacks in the period when the clocks go back or forward an hour,” Mark Demesmaeker explains. “Furthermore, it’s not just the health of the population that suffers as a result, the general economy and traffic safety do too.”

Time to get rid of the hour change

Mark Demesmaeker is therefore calling on Europe to adjust the existing directive. A study must then be carried out to decide whether it is summer time or winter time that will become the new year-round time. “But we have to get rid of the hour change, that much is clear,” Mark Demesmaeker concludes.

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