time change
Summer time in Germany – the clocks are presented
The clock was changed in Germany and other countries. Photo: Ralf Hirschberger/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Despite persistent criticism, an abolition of the time change in the EU is not foreseeable. Daylight saving time applies from night until autumn.
Summer time in Germany: On the night of Sunday, the clocks in Germany and most European countries were put forward from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.
“Everything worked smoothly again,” said Dirk Piester from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig on Sunday of the German Press Agency. The authority is responsible for the dissemination of legal time in Germany.
This means that the so-called summer time applies until the last Sunday in October (October 30th), when the clocks are set back by one hour. The aim of the changeover, reintroduced in 1980, is to be able to make better use of daylight and thereby save energy. However, opponents repeatedly doubt this effect. The conversion is uniformly regulated in the EU member states and abolition is not foreseeable despite strong criticism.
The semi-annual debate about the sense and purpose of this measure was almost completely absent this spring in view of the war and crises. This impression was also shared by the PTB physicists, who otherwise processed significantly more inquiries on the subject.
The end of the changeover seemed sealed: Brussels – more precisely ex-Commission President Jean Claude Juncker – had already announced it in 2018. After that, however, headlines and words remained: The topic has been on hold for several years, and nothing has changed at this point.