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EU ministers say ending clock changes in 2019 ‘not realistic’
GRAZ, Austria, Oct 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – EU transport ministers said Monday
the European Commission’s proposal to abolish daylight savings time in 2019
was not realistic and that disagreements remained over how to implement the
idea.
Ministers highlighted the challenges of implementing the suggestion, which
would see an end to the annual ritual of putting clocks forward by one hour
in the spring and then back an hour in the autumn.
“If we aim to do this in 2019, as the Commission suggested, this will not
be supported by the majority of member states”, Austrian Transport Minister
Norbert Hofer said at the start of an informal meeting of his EU colleagues
in the city of Graz.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker — whose terms will end
next spring — announced the proposal in August.
The plan, seen as an attempt to demonstrate the Commission was able to
react to citizens’ concerns, followed an online consultation which generated
some 4.6 million responses. But the proposal could be complicated if
neighbouring countries make different choices on whether to stay on summer or
winter time permanently.
“We must also be careful that we don’t end up with a patchwork of time
zones” across Europe, Hofer said on Monday.
Hofer said that Austria had suggested 2021 as a start date for the change,
which had met with “broad agreement”.
EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said she hoped member states could
reach a common position before a formal transport ministers’ meeting
scheduled for early December.
– ‘More debate needed’ –
Hofer said that although most member states were agreed on the principle
of ending the practice, and that Austria would like to see it done “as soon
as possible”, 2019 would be too ambitious.
“In certain areas, technical preparations will be necessary… for example
the airline industry tell us they need at least 18 months to prepare,” Hofer
said, later explaining that this was due to the possible impact of timezone
changes on airline landing slots that had already been negotiated.
He said that computing businesses had also said they would need time to
update operating systems.
While several ministers expressed enthusiasm for ending the practice,
others sounded a more cautious note.
“We need a thorough public debate about this… we haven’t had that yet so
we need more time to get the Danish position on this,” said Denmark’s
Transport Minister Ole Birk Olesen.
“There is not much awareness about the fact that it will have costs
whatever we choose,” he added.
– New Brexit headache? –
Hofer said that three countries had expressed skepticism on the principle
of the change during the meeting: Poland, Sweden and the UK.
“The British have it easy of course, being on GMT,” Hofer noted with a
smile.
Even though the UK is scheduled to leave the EU in March 2019, the UK
government’s stated position to keep daylight savings time could lead to yet
another Brexit headache along the Irish border.
If Ireland were to follow its EU counterparts, it would lead to a time
difference being created across the border between Northern Ireland and the
Republic during one half of the year.
Proponents of daylight savings time say the longer evening daylight hours
in the summer help save energy and bolster productivity.
However, Hofer said that energy savings had been minimal and that the
twice-yearly change also has negative health impacts.
BSS/AFP/RY/20:08 hrs