On the night of Saturday 29 to Sunday 30 October, we will switch to winter time. But for several years, the file of the end of the time change has been on the table, without consequence for the moment.
The Member States of the European Union, including France, switch to winter time on the night of Saturday October 29 to Sunday 30. At 3 a.m., it will actually be 2 a.m., which will allow the the whole population to gain an hour of sleep. Introduced in France in 1975, the purpose of the time change was to achieve energy savings following the oil crisis of 1973-1974 and the surge in oil prices. It was in 1998 that it was harmonized at European level. However, for several years, it has been observed that there is no real effect on these energy savings, the measure is therefore contested.
The proposal to abolish the time change had therefore been made by the European Commission in 2018, to come into force in 2019. But this had been postponed to 2021, following a vote by the European Parliament. Since then, the file is still on the table, and the various crises that have affected the European Union for some time (Brexit, Covid, etc.) have only postponed the treatment of the subject. On the site life-public.fr, we can thus read: “The directive was to be adopted by the Council at the end of 2020, then transposed by the Member States. However, due to the health crisis linked to Covid-19, this text on the end of the time change is no longer on the agenda and is not expected to be discussed in the near future.” In France, during a consultation carried out in 2019, 83.74% of those questioned wanted this system to end, summer time being favored by 59%.