Switching to winter time: why we are going to change the time again this weekend – BFMTV

In March 2019, the European Parliament approved the end of the time change on the territory of the European Union, but various obstacles still prevent its implementation today.

When is the end of the time change? Mentioned since 2018, this measure was voted in 2019 in the European Parliament. However, this weekend again, France will change time, and switch to winter time by going backwards: at 3 a.m. this Sunday, it will then be 2 a.m..

2021 was supposed to mark the end of these six-monthly hourly disruptions, but due to the Covid-19 health crisis, as well as disagreements that are yet to be settled between member states, the time change is expected to continue for some time yet.

Little savings, a lot of inconvenience …

The time change in France was implemented in 1976, following the oil shock of 1973. In 1998, this measure was common to the majority of the Member States of the European Union. “Originally, the objective was to save energy by matching the hours of activity with those of sunshine as closely as possible”, explains the government website. But the inconvenience caused by the time change is, today, considered more important than its benefit.

“The gain in energy would now be marginal, in particular due to the generalization of low-consumption lighting. Opponents also point to an increase in road accidents, and sleep disorders among the elderly and children”, in time of daylight saving time change, underlines the site of the French administration.

“The jet lag that this creates plays on our anxiety, our mood, whether we are depressed or not, and this has a very important impact on children, seniors, and sick people”, explained to BFMTV Benjamin Lubszynski, psychotherapist and author of “To sleep well that can be learned”, on the occasion of the change to summer time, last March. This discrepancy can also affect appetite, or even farm animals, which also see their pace change.

The Covid-19 has been there

A citizen consultation launched in 2019 had gathered the opinions of more than 2 million French people on the subject: 83.71% of respondents were in favor of stopping the seasonal shift. A consultation at European level in 2018, on 4.6 million people, had also given 84% of people in favor of the end of this half-yearly lag.

Several obstacles have pushed back this measure since its vote in March 2019. On the one hand, the appearance of Covid-19, which triggered a global pandemic in early 2020, and is still a source of concern today. Faced with this still unresolved issue, the time change issue is not a priority.

“The directive was to be adopted by the Council at the end of 2020, then transposed by the Member States. However, due to the health crisis linked to Covid-19, this text on the end of the time change is no longer available. agenda and should not be discussed in the near future “, explains the site of the French administration.

Winter time or summer time?

Another major obstacle at the end of the time change, the need for member countries to agree on the winter or summer time zone “so that the application of summer time in certain countries and winter time in others does not disrupt the functioning of the internal market “, underlines the official site.

“The ball is in the camps of the Member States”, explained last March on our antenna the European deputy ecologist Karima Delli. “We agree on the time change, but what really blocks it is: do we stay in summer time or winter time? a real problem because the Member States cannot come to an agreement “.

She underlines “indirect problems on connectivity, on transport … All this must be organized”. The permeability between the different countries of the European Union also leads to questions about the daily life of cross-border workers: “if I am French and I work in Germany, I will not change my watch in the morning and in the evening. harmonization “.