So, forward or backward? Luxembourg residents will have to remember to adjust their clocks again this weekend: the switch to standard time is scheduled for the night of Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October. At 3 am, it will be 2 am from now on. Everyone will thus gain one hour of sleep. A change that will bring forward the time of sunrise and accelerate nightfall.
At the European level, the time changeover regime was harmonised in 1980 - justified at the time by energy savings, the reality of which is under discussion. In September 2018, the European Commission proposed to abolish it … in 2019. However, in March 2019, the European Parliament voted to postpone it to 2021. Since then, the Covid-19 crisis has passed by, and the issue is currently on hold.
This includes encouraging countries to harmonise their choice of legal time so as to avoid a patchwork of time zones between neighbours.
