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The last days of daylight saving time are coming to an end in Austria. The time change will take place on October 26.
On the night of October 26, clocks in Austria and other EU member states will be set back one hour. At 3:00 a.m., daylight saving time will end and be replaced by standard time, also known as winter time. Although the European Parliament decided to end daylight saving time in 2019, the plan has not yet been implemented. In fact, there is no end in sight for daylight saving time.
For this to happen, a qualified majority of EU member states would have to vote in favor of it. However, as the interests and intentions of the nations differ significantly on this issue, no progress has been made towards abolishing daylight saving time. The spokesperson for the European Council said in response to an APA inquiry that the issue is not currently being addressed. The time change was last briefly mentioned at the European Council level in the first half of 2025, but “no concrete steps have been taken,” according to the spokesperson.
Last weekend in October brings winter time
As long as there is no new regulation at EU level regarding the time change, it will simply continue as before – on the last weekend in March of each year, the clocks are set forward to daylight saving time, and on the last weekend in October, they are set back again. Given the current political situation, it is “likely that this will continue,” said the spokesperson.
Daylight saving time was introduced in Europe in 1973 in response to the oil crisis and with the aim of saving energy. The time change was intended to gain an hour of daylight for businesses and households. France was the first to introduce it.
Austria did not decide to introduce it until 1979 due to administrative problems and because it wanted to harmonize its transport system with Switzerland and Germany. These two countries did not introduce daylight saving time until 1980. However, daylight saving time had already been introduced in the Alpine republic during the First World War. In 1916, it applied to the monarchy from May 1 to September 30, but was then discontinued. A second attempt, which was ultimately unsuccessful, was made between 1940 and 1948.
- source: APA/picture: pixabay.com
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