You would be hard put to find somebody in Europe who actually likes the changing of the clock twice a year, so why do we still have it?

The European Commission said yesterday that it will study the Spanish proposal to end the time change. This was at a Meeting of EU Ministers for Energy, which took place in Luxembourg

The Energy Commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, said that the European governing body would “respond to calls from Member States to carry out an in-depth analysis. ” He said that this study would begin “soon.”

Of course, getting all the 27 members to agree on something is wishful thinking and things will stay as they are until the EC comes up with a decision.

At the meeting, the Spanish Minister justified his position on that since this farting around was first adopted, “technology has changed.” Furthermore, he pointed out that 44 studies have shown that the energy-saving advantages are almost zero. In other words; it’s a complete waste of time.

“We only save around six euros a year, but the impact on the health and well-being of citizens is enormous,” said the Spanish representative, Oriol Escalas, adding, “This is an obsolete and unjustified measure.”

Finland and Poland have seconded the Spanish proposal. The Finnish Ambassador said that this is a measure that “affects people’s physical health, especially in countries as dark as Finland.” His Polish counterpart has also supported the initiative, ensuring that the time change “deregulates the lives of our citizens.”

Spain has a special problem because during World War Two, the Spanish dictator, Franco, thought that Hitler was going to win so he put Spain on the same time as Berlin (Central European Time) when it is actually on the same Meridian as London. Result? In Summer, we’re two hours out.

The solution, therefore is to go back one hour at the end of October, and then drop back another hour in Spring, putting us on Greenwhich Meantime, so even if the clock change does continue, at least we will be in the correct time zone. This would also end the ridiculous situation of the Canary Islands being one hour behind mainland Spain.

(News: Spain)

Keywords: British Summer Time, Greenwhich Meantime, Hour Changes, EU, Drop the System

news, spain, british summer time, greenwhich meantime, hour changes, eu, drop the system

Reader’s comment: “Who needs it to be light at 0500 in June. I’m happy to keep summer time the whole year and benefit from later sunsets to better enjoy the evenings” – Michael

The trouble is that although we base our time zones on meridians, it’s also longitudes that make a difference, which is why at the North Pole, you get 24 hours nights and days, whilst at the equator, days and nights are almost 12 hours each all year round.

Therefore, even in Spain, whilst you might have dawn on the Costa Tropical at 08.00h, it will come earlier or later in Cantabria – imagine what this would mean for Berlin or Oslo. You can’t, therefore, keep summer time (GMT+1) all year round on a European scale. – Martin

Reader’s comment: “If you look at Chile, its West coast is much longer than the north-south of EU and all of this is one time zone. People get used to how much daylight they get, and when. It is bad enogh trying to work out when to call people in USA etc. so if all of EU (and hopefully UK) were on the same zone it would make business easier” – Paul Craddock