Why does Europe change time from summer to winter and back again

On the night of Saturday 28th to Sunday 29th October, clocks across Europe will be set back one hour. Luxembourg will be no exception. Winter time has been used in the region for more than 100 years, but in recent years the effectiveness of this procedure has been increasingly questioned.

Already in 2018, the first thoughts about the cancellation of the winter time appeared in the European Union. Then there was even a large-scale social survey, which affected more than 4.5 million people. The question was: "Do you think it is necessary to change from summer to winter time and back?" And the overwhelming majority of respondents (84%) said no.

The decision was supported by many arguments, but the main ones were sleep disruption, lack of real energy savings (which was the reason for the switch in the first place), and even the increasing number of traffic accidents.

Even the cherished "extra hour of sleep" does not save the situation, as it is available only once, and the established habit and internal routine is something that has to be reckoned with all the time.

Then, in 2018, the law was adopted, which abolished the translation of hours. It was necessary to coordinate the document with the European Parliament and the member states. And that's where the catch was. The Parliament ratified the law rather quickly. But the countries could not agree on whether to remove winter time or summer time.

Then Brexit happened, a little later covid-19, and the discussion was far from the first and not even in the second place. The question of the abolition of the transfer of hands returned this year. However, whether there will be any movement in this direction, it is too early to say. So be sure to turn your clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, October 29.