Why Europe Couldn’t Stop Daylight Saving Time
The EU was set to stop changing its clocks in 2021, but then came Brexit, the pandemic, and some messy international bureaucracy.
People look at the clock of the city hall in Biarritz, in southwestern France, in January 2021.
Photographer: GAIZKA IROZ/AFP via Getty Images
Lots of people hate changing their clocks when daylight saving time begins in March, but the European Union seemed prepared to do more than just complain about it: In March 2019, the European Parliament voted to dispense entirely with biannual clock changes.
A continent full of people — tired of being plunged into early evening darkness in the fall and then having an hour of precious life yanked from their existence in the spring — were looking forward to the last year ever for moving to the eight-month-long DST period in the EU this month. Countries opting to keep to summer time would “spring forward” for the final time in March, while those that preferred the winter schedule would carry out their last clock change in October.