Germany, as well as the rest of the EU, has switched to winter time for perhaps the final time. The EU voted to abolish the practice of daylight saving time in 2021, but concrete plans on what comes next remain elusive.
Image: Ina Fassbender/AFP
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Germans got an extra hour of sleep on Sunday as clocks switched back an hour at 3 a.m., in a decadeslong tradition aimed at gaining an extra hour of sunlight in the morning.
Germany introduced the switch between summer and winter time in 1980, following the global oil crisis. The idea was that it would save energy by maximizing sunlight hours, though its impact has been debatable. Nevertheless, Germans have been changing their clocks in October and March ever since.
The practice, which is currently regulated across the European Union, has grown increasingly unpopular over the years. Critics say switching clocks disrupts biorhythms in humans and livestock alike, leading to health problems.
The decision left it up to EU member states to decide whether to stick to the twice-yearly change, but there is no uniform position on whether the bloc should adopt summer or winter time. With 2021 just around the corner, no concrete plans on how to implement the EU's decision have been made since last year's vote.
Will Sunday be the last time Europeans turn back the clocks? Only time will tell.
The end of daylight saving time (DST) in Germany and the EU is looming. DW takes a look at the continent's history of changing the clocks by one hour every six months.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Barlow
DST in the EU
Spring forward, fall back. Sound familiar? The catchphrase describes the practice of daylight saving time (DST), or moving the clock forward by one hour in summer to make evening daylight last longer. The practice is common in North America and Europe, with people changing their clocks at the start of spring and then reverting them back in the middle of fall.
Thanks to a love of insects
While some may have heard that Benjamin Franklin, an 18th-century founding father of the United States, invented DST, credit actually goes to New Zealand entomologist George Hudson. He valued after-work hours of sun to collect insects, which led him in 1895 to propose shifting clocks two hours forward in summer and two hours back in winter. His idea was not very popular.
Hudson's idea took some time to catch on — and when it did, it was in a totally different part of the world. In 1916, the German and Austrian Empires ordered that all clocks be moved forward by one hour on April 30 in order to try to save fuel for the war effort by minimizing the need for artificial lighting. The UK, France and the US soon followed, but countries dropped the shift after WWI ended.
Image: picture-alliance/RIA Nowosti
EU clock coordination begins
DST was reinstituted in much of Europe during WWII, including in Germany under Adolf Hitler. National practices varied greatly through the 1970s energy crisis. In 1980, the EU's forerunner began to coordinate divergent clock changes. Since 2001, EU states have been obliged to switch to summer time on the last Sunday in March and back to standard time, or winter time, on the last Sunday in October.
Image: Colourbox
EU calls for ending DST
In 2018, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pledged to do away with the bloc's seasonal time changes in 2019. Member states could choose to keep summer or winter time. His cited an online EU survey in which 84 percent of respondents voted to end clock changes. However, only 4.6 million people voted in the poll and nearly three-quarters of all votes were from Germany.
