Daylight saving time ends on the last weekend in October

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Daylight Saving Time ends on October 31. Clocks will be turned back to 2 a.m. in Europe at 3 a.m., and thus to standard time.

In March 2019, the European Parliament had voted by a large majority in favor of abolishing daylight saving time as of 2021 – or one year later if there are difficulties for the single market. However, a majority of member states must still agree to this for it to become a reality. It is still unclear when the vote will take place, EU Council circles told APA.

The process of abolition was triggered by an EU-wide online survey. In this 84 percent of the participants had spoken out in favor of an end to the time changeover. Most voted in favor of permanent daylight saving time in 2018. 4.6 million responses were received, including three million from Germany alone – a record, but still less than one percent of EU citizens.

The EU Commission had then proposed abolishing the switch between summer and winter time from 2019. Instead, the states were to be able to decide for themselves whether they wanted to have summer or winter time permanently. But objections to this plan came from many countries, since, among other things, a uniform time zone seems desirable for the economy, at least in Central Europe. Otherwise, interstate time differences would affect trade even more. Austria prefers permanent daylight saving time as standard time.

Throughout the EU, the clock was previously turned on the last Sunday in March – and back again on the last Sunday in October. Daylight saving time was introduced in Europe in 1973 in response to the oil crisis and with the aim of saving energy. The time shift was intended to gain an hour of daylight for businesses and households. France made the start at that time.

Austria decided to introduce it only in 1979 because of administrative problems and because they wanted harmonization with Switzerland and Germany in terms of traffic. These two countries did not introduce daylight saving time until 1980. However, summer time already existed in the Alpine republic during the First World War. In 1916, it was in effect for the monarchy from May 1 to September 30, but was then discontinued. A second – permanently unsuccessful – attempt was made between 1940 and 1948.