Don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend – for the last time perhaps? Daylight saving time ends at 3am on Sunday 29th October 2017, when clocks go back 1 hour.
Could this be the last time you have to change your clocks? Poland is set to become the first country in the EU to scrap daylight saving time changes.
Earlier this month a bill to abolish time changes unanimously passed its first reading in the Polish Parliament and is now awaiting it’s second reading, with a high degree of confidence that the bill will succeed, having had rare cross party support.
Supporters of the legislation argue that the twice-yearly time changes cause health problems, damages the economy, disrupts businesses and does little to cut energy consumption.
“The time changes can lead to imbalances in the body-clock, leading to mood swings, trouble with sleeping, and an increased risk of heart attacks and road accidents”
Those against abolishing the time changes argue that being the only EU country not to change time in Spring and Autumn would cause massive problems for Poland;
“This will affect every person and every institution. You start with watches, smart phones and computers and end with complex industrial systems that control, for example, pipelines. The list of things that will need to be changed is endless.”
Abolishing the time change will also put Poland out of synchronisation with its EU neighbours, most importantly Germany, the country’s biggest trading partner.
EU Research ‘Why we change the clocks’ (2016)