The video released on X by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in which he calls it “meaningless” to relocate the hands twice a year, has rekindled a discussion that had long seemed closed. The Socialist leader has brought back into the spotlight a topic that often returns to the debate but remains unresolved: the possibility of definitively abolishing the modify between summer and winter time in Europe.
The Origins of the Debate
The idea of doing away with the time modify is not a recent one. The proposal launched to take shape in 2018, when the European Commission, then chaired by Jean-Claude Juncker, launched a public consultation to gauge citizens’ opinion on the issue. 4.6 million people took part in the survey, of whom 84% were in favour of abolishing the six-monthly modify, with peaks of 93% in Spain.
On the basis of these results, the Commission proposed to the European Parliament to put an finish to the system, leaving the Member States free to choose between keeping solar time or summer time.
On 26 March 2019, the hemicycle passed the motion with 410 votes in favour, 192 against and 51 abstentions. In the official communiqué, the parliament announced that each member state would decide on its own standard timetable and that the last seasonal modify would take place in 2021.
At that point, the matter was left to neobtainediations between the EU Parliament and Council, the body that brings toreceiveher the competent ministers of all EU governments. It was here that the process came to a halt: several states were sceptical, fearing that the removal of the time modify without precise coordination could create confusion.
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