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On the night of Sunday, 27 October, the clocks will once again be set back one hour – for the 44th time since 1980, when this nonsense began. Once again, people with sensitive sleep patterns will have problems, once again parents will have unbalanced children, once again farmers will have problems with restless animals. It will take weeks for the cows to get used to the new milking times. Statisticians will once again record increased accident figures, and most of the 440 million EU citizens will once again wonder when the nightmare of daylight saving time will finally end. But it will not end. At least not in the foreseeable future.
In 2018, the European Commission launched an online survey among EU citizens asking whether they were for or against the time change. The result was clear: 84% of participating EU citizens were against the time change. Consequently, in September 2018, the European Commission proposed to the European Parliament that the time change be abolished. However, the European Parliament was unable to agree on a regulation. It failed because some member states wanted to stay with summer time and others wanted to stay with winter time. A uniform regulation would make perfect sense, as inconsistent time zones within the EU would only cause problems, e.g. with timetables for cross-border air and rail transport.
The EU Parliament delegated the problem to the member states, suggesting that each country should find its own solution. That is how things have remained to this day. And so, next Sunday, we will once again set our clocks back. Even though everyone knows that it is completely pointless, does not save any energy and only causes problems for many people. Thank you, EU!
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