The changeover to winter time takes place on the weekend of October 28 and 29, 2023. The time change continues to be applied, without Europe providing visibility on the end of this controversial measure.
Time for winter time: the time change takes place during the night of Saturday October 28 to Sunday October 29, 2023. You will have to set your watch back one hour: at 3 a.m., it will be 2 a.m. Like the rest of Europe, France is affected by this measure. However, when setting your alarm or checking if your smartphone will switch to winter time, you might wonder why the time change is still applied.
The prospect of putting an end to the time change has been discussed for years, even at the highest European authorities. MEPs voted for the removal of this measure in March 2019. Moreover, at that time, the French voted in favor of ending the time change (and to keep summer time) . But since then, the text has been waiting in the hands of the ministers of the member states which make up the Council of the European Union. As long as the institution does not express its position on the subject, the time change continues to be applied.
Ending time change is no longer Europe’s priority
“ The end of the time change was then postponed due in particular to the Covid-19 health crisis. This text on the end of the time change is no longer on the agenda », indicated the official government website on October 5.
The presidency of the Council of the EU is held in turn by the Member States, for a period of 6 months each time.
Contacted by Numerama, the press service of the Council of the European Union confirmed that the file had not evolved. None of the EU Presidencies, including the current (Spanish) Presidency, has included this issue on the agenda of the relevant Council working group. The next Belgian presidency has not yet announced its priorities, so it is completely unknown whether this issue will be on the table of the EU Council during the first half of 2024.
Europe therefore continues to switch to summer time and winter time, as usual. Each country in the union switches to summer time on the last Sunday in March, and to winter time on the last Sunday in October.
As a reminder, the measure has been harmonized in the EU since 1998. Originally, the objective of changing the time was to save energy. Now their reach has become weak and their time change is contested. But as long as Europe remains immobile on this issue, we have no choice but to continue to alternate our lives between winter time and summer time.
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