Belgium will switch back to winter time tonight between Saturday to Sunday.
At 3 am on Sunday it will therefore only be two o’clock; everybody can gain an hour of sleep but it will get dark earlier in the day the coming months.
All EU member states change their time on the last weekend of March and the last weekend of October, according to a directive from 2001. However, daylight saving time actually dates back to the 1970s with the aim of saving energy to make better use of daylight, although the effectiveness of this measure is disputed.
In 2018, the European Commission conducted a public consultation regarding the measure, and based on the public poll recommended to abolish the seasonal time change from 2019. However, Member States and Parliament, found this deadline too short and decided to postpone the abolishment of seasonal time change in the European Union to 2021. The measure leaves each country the choice to stay in winter time or summer time.
An opinion poll commissioned last year showed that the majority of the Belgian population (83%) is in favour of stopping the seasonal time change. As for time regime that Belgium should adopt permanently, 50% of respondents indicated their preference for winter time while 45% preferred summer time.
The Brussels Times
