Seasons
Clocks changed – winter time begins in Germany
At three o’clock that night the time was reset to two o’clock. photo
© Marijan Murat/dpa
The clocks in Germany are changed every six months. Now it’s winter time again. While technically everything worked perfectly as always, the consequences of the measure remain controversial.
“It worked smoothly and without incident,” said Dirk Piester from PTB on Sunday morning. The signal was distributed throughout Germany via a transmitter called DCF77 in Mainflingen, Hesse.
Winter time will now apply again for six months, until March 31, 2024. The time change was reintroduced in 1980 – with the aim of making better use of daylight. However, the energy saving effect is controversial among critics. According to a current representative Forsa survey by DAK-Gesundheit, one in three people in Germany suffers from the consequences of the time change. Symptoms include fatigue, sleep problems and difficulty concentrating. 77 percent of all respondents considered the time change to be unnecessary. A total of 1,004 people were surveyed for the study between September 26th and 28th.
The time change is regulated at European level. Former Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker had already announced an end to the changes in 2018. The majority of members of the European Parliament also voted to end the changeover. However, nothing has happened so far. “At EU level, Spain, which holds the current EU presidency, has not yet stated whether they will address the issue. However, in the current situation, this does not appear likely,” said the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK). upon request.
Information from the PTB on the time change