EU to review daylight savings time

The European Parliament called on the European Commission, the EU’s regulatory arm, to conduct a “thorough assessment” of bloc-wide legislation on daylight savings time and, “if necessary, come up with a proposal for its revision.” “Numerous studies have failed to reach a conclusive outcome, but indicate negative effects on human health,” the members of European Parliament wrote in their proposal. The motion was brought forward by a group of Fins, who demanded that its government abolish daylight savings time. Depending on the month, in Helsinki daylight can range from 6 to 18 hours per day. A Finnish parliamentary committee heard a series of experts before concluding that people do not adapt smoothly to the changes and that changing the clocks caused short-term sleeping disorders, reduced performance at work and could also lead to serious health problems. The current EU summer-time arrangements, which have been in place since 2001, provide “a harmonized date and time for the beginning and end of the summer-time period across the EU.” In member states, clocks are moved forward by 1 hour in March and then set back in October. Last October, the European Parliament's Research Service published a study on the matter concluding, that the benefits of daylight saving time are “marginal” from the economic point of view because what you save on light you spend on heating. EU notes that abolishing current rule would not eliminate daylight savings time, but allow member states to decide on their own, whether to keep the clock change or abolish the practice. However, EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc warned that such solution could be harmful to the bloc’s economy. “The evidence is conclusive only on one point. That letting member states be free to apply uncoordinated time changes would be detrimental to the internal market.”