Time change: why it is still not abolished

This article first appeared in October 2024. We are now publishing it again in an updated form.

At the time change on Sunday, March 30, 2025, we have to introduce the clock for an hour – from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. Many people in Germany and other EU countries are tired of changing the time and want it to be abolished.

In the summer of 2018, an EU Commission online survey showed that 84 percent of European citizens are against changing the clock regularly. In Germany, almost 3.8 percent of the population took part in the survey, which is the highest participation across Europe.

The time change was particularly critically assessed due to negative consequences for health, increasing traffic accidents and only low energy savings. Following the survey, the EU Commission proposed to the European Parliament in September 2018 to end the time change.

As a result, one came to the conclusion that the Member States best decide whether they want to maintain summer time or normal time (“winter time”), the commission said. However, the Commission wants to avoid that individual EU countries start their own and different time zones within Europe.

In March 2019, the parliament announced that the proposal was supported. “Since then, the ball has been with the Member States, they have to find a common point of view in the council.” It is still there today.

So far, the countries have not been able to agree on a uniform time. A solution that everyone is satisfied is more difficult to find than expected. This is particularly due to the various geographical layers of the Member States. This applies in particular to countries in the west and east of Europe. As the Bavarian Radio explains as an example, Amsterdam and Madrid would only see the light in the morning with a permanent summer time in winter.

However, the EU countries agreed on the winter or normal time, the sun in Warsaw and Stockholm would take place in the middle of the night. In Germany, too, the bright evenings would be significantly shorter.

Germany introduced the time change in summer 1980. Since 1996, Europeans have been switching their watches twice a year. Due to the summer time, you hope to save energy and to be able to better use the time of day.

The fact that the coming Sunday is one hour shorter due to the time change may be a few people. However, the changeover to summer time in spring and to normal time in autumn is generally unpopular. However, a Europe -wide regulation is not in sight. And nothing will change that quickly.