Abolishing daylight saving time? Why the EU still can't reach an agreement

Daylight saving time should be abolished. This is the opinion of 84 percent of Europeans who participated in an online survey in 2018. While this survey is not representative, it reflects the voices of 4.6 million people.

But almost seven years later, it happened again. On the night of October 25-26 , 2025, the clocks were put forward one hour . Why does this still have to happen? Answers to questions about the abolition of daylight saving time.

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The fundamental answer to this question is yes. In September 2018, the EU Commission proposed ending the change from winter time to summer time (and vice versa). The EU Parliament has supported this proposal since March 2019.

So far, not all EU member states have agreed on whether or not to abolish daylight saving time. Once they have decided to do so, according to the EU proposal, each country can decide for itself whether it will continue to use summer or winter time forever.

"It is desirable that Member States make decisions on the standard time that each of them will apply in a coordinated manner," the EU writes , warning of the "fragmentation of the internal market" that could otherwise result. If each country decides for itself whether winter or summer time should apply from now on, the worst-case scenario would be a patchwork of different time zones. This would complicate travel and traffic planning, and could have a negative impact on the economy.

There is no deadline yet, as the EU member states have not yet reached an agreement. They were originally supposed to announce their decision by April 2020. The plan was to abolish daylight saving time in 2021.

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Daylight saving time was not introduced in the Federal Republic of Germany until 1980, after France had decided to change the clocks four years earlier for energy policy reasons in the wake of the oil crisis. The idea behind it was to consume less energy by increasing daylight in the summer. Many EU member states followed suit for economic reasons.

The time change in the Federal Republic of Germany was also decided due to the division into West and East: After the GDR introduced summer and winter time in 1979, the already divided country wanted to avoid having different time zones.

Since 1996, the time has been changed uniformly in all EU member states – one hour forward or back on the last Sunday in March and October.

Probably not, or only very little. "It's impossible to quantify exactly how much energy is actually saved by switching to daylight saving time, because the change leads to lower consumption in some places and higher consumption in others," writes the Federal Environment Agency .

In summer, it's light longer, and people have to turn on their lights later. However, light bulbs are also more energy-efficient today than they were in the 1980s, so the savings are likely to be small. And when the clocks go forward an hour, people have to get up earlier. Since mornings are often cool in spring and fall, heating energy consumption increases as a result of daylight saving time.

"There are also impacts elsewhere. The longer daylight hours in the evening can lead to changes in leisure behavior," the Federal Environment Agency points out. For example, when it's light longer, some people drive to the lake after work instead of curling up on the couch with a book.

Between 1950 and 1980, there was no daylight saving time in Germany. What is now colloquially called winter time was simply standard time back then. This is the so-called normal Central European Time (CET) – also known as standard time. In fact, winter time is the normal or "correct" time in Germany.

People in Iceland, China, Russia, and Turkey no longer have to change their clocks – which applies to most of the more than 190 countries worldwide. "Internationally, daylight saving time is observed in around 60 countries, mainly in North America and Oceania," according to the EU.

Parts of the USA, such as Hawaii and Arizona, also do not change the clocks. The same applies to the Australian states of Queensland and Western Australia.

Strictly speaking, "time change" isn't the right term for what EU citizens do once a year in spring and autumn. After all, they're not changing the clocks. The minutes, hours, and days pass by as usual. So, if you want to be completely accurate, you might call it "clock change."

However, the term "time change" is far more common. In March 2022, 1.22 million people searched for it on Google – and only 60,500 searched for the term "clock change." The Duden dictionary also uses the term "time change." It defines the term as "the change from daylight saving time to standard time or from winter time to summer time." However, the term "clock change" is not part of the standard work.

This text was first published in March 2025 and has been updated.

Contributors: Patrick Fam, Ben Kendal and Ina Johannsen