Switching to summer time: while abandoning the measure has long been considered, why do we continue to change time ?
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The transition to summer time, which will take place during the night of this Saturday 30 to Sunday 31 March, is increasingly contested and its benefit is controversial. However, its abandonment was scheduled for 2021.
France will switch to summer time during the night of this Saturday 30 to Sunday 31 March. At 2 a.m., it will then be 3 a.m. The time change occurs twice a year: at the beginning of autumn and at the end of winter.
As the government website Vie-publique reminds us, summer time in mainland France was introduced in 1975 mainly with the aim of making energy savings. following the oil shock of 1973-1974 and the surge in oil prices, by reducing artificial lighting times in the evening.
Road accidents and sleep disorders
This measure, which was supposed to be provisional, is still applied. But it is quite controversial and the question of its removal, desired by the European Commission, has been raised for several years.
If a study by the Ecological Transition Agency showed in 2010 that this measure had made it possible to reduce the carbon footprint of the French, the energy gain would be now marginal, particularly due to the widespread use of low-consumption lighting.
Opponents also point to an increase in road accidents and sleep disorders among the elderly and children.
An abandonment scheduled for 2021
So much so that in 2018, the European Commission launched a major citizen consultation in which more than 4.5 million citizens participated. 84% of them were in favor of removing the time change. The following year, the European Parliament adopted the project providing for the abandonment of the measure from 2021.
The fact remains that unpredictable elements of greater importance came to disrupt this project: firstly the health crisis linked to Covid-19, beginning 2020, then the war in Ukraine, a year later, ended up pushing the idea into oblivion.
"This text on the end of the time change is no longer available ;agenda and should not be discussed in the near future", indicates Vie-publique.
On a global scale, several countries, such as Argentina, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and Armenia, have decided to’ rsquo;abandon seasonal time changes, while others, such as Canada or the United States, continue to apply them.