Time change
Turned the clock again: It’s summer time in Germany
At night the time was advanced. Summer time begins on March 31st this year. photo
© Niklas Graeber/dpa
Is it a nuisance or does it make sense? Anyway, the clock has been turned again – summer time is here. And what do the responsible experts say about the time change?
At least most people were able to sleep in: Anyone who doesn’t have to work on Easter Sunday is in the process of switching to this Summer time is fine. And again the question arose: When do you turn the hands forward and back an hour? Early in the morning in Germany and most European countries the clocks were set forward from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. – that’s right: forward. It’s summer time again. The time change is still controversial.
“Everything went smoothly during the changeover and the transmission of the time signal,” said Dirk Piester from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig to the German Press Agency. The Federal Agency is responsible for disseminating the time in Germany. Their scientific experts ensure that radio-controlled clocks, station clocks and many industrial clocks are supplied with the legal time via a long-wave transmitter called “DCF77” in Mainflingen near Frankfurt. Daylight saving time ends when clocks go back from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m. on October 27th.
Piester emphasized that there had never been any problems with the changeover, everything was automatic and programmed according to the calendar. However, there are tests beforehand. Double hand turning is regulated uniformly in the EU member states. The aim of the time change, which was reintroduced in 1980, is to make better use of daylight brightness.
EU wanted to abolish time changes
However, the meaning and purpose of the exercise has been debated for years. Surveys often show majorities against the change. In 2018, the EU Commission surveyed citizens across Europe – according to the non-representative survey, an impressive 84 percent were against the change. The then head of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, optimistically announced the end of the clock turning on German breakfast television.
Only: In order to abolish it, the EU states would have to agree beforehand whether they wanted summer or winter time permanently. Only: There is no agreement, so the issue is on hold.
There are examples of abolition: Greenland did not switch back to winter time for the first time last October after the government there agreed in November 2022 to abolish the change from summer to winter time. The Greenlanders wanted to move an hour closer to Denmark and the rest of Europe. Mexico switched to winter time for the last time in autumn 2022; Turkey abolished the switch to winter time in 2016.
Advantages of winter and summer time
And yet: “Despite some disadvantages, it makes sense to change the time twice a year,” said Professor Nicolas Ziebarth from the University of Mannheim to the German Press Agency. The change has positive and negative effects on health, but with some adjustments to everyday life the negative effects can be reduced: “Starting school and work later in the first week after the time change helps to reduce negative effects.” Teenagers in particular need enough sleep. And the abolition would also have consequences: If winter time was permanent, the sun would rise in Frankfurt am Main this year at 4:15 a.m. on June 21st; if summer time was permanent, it would only rise at 9:22 a.m. on December 21st.
And what does the time change actually mean for the PTB experts themselves? He personally had no problems with it, said Piester. “But I don’t have to work on Easter Sunday either.”