Rocking the clock in the EU as Jean-Claude Juncker wants summer time ‘year round’
European countries may soon be able to decide if they lose or use the twice-yearly hour difference
Belgium — The EU said on Friday that it will recommend abolishing the twice-yearly clock change amid unprecedented demand from European citizens who call it disruptive and even harmful to health. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said "summer time should be year-round" with his commissioners pledging to act on the move during their annual retreat to a lakeside hotel in Genval, Belgium. The commission is now preparing a proposal to send to the European parliament and the member states in the following weeks, which could be enacted by 2020 or 2021, transport and Slovenian commissioner Violeta Bulc told reporters. "Millions of Europeans use our public consultation to make their voices heard. The message is very clear: 84% of them do not want the clocks to change anymore." According to preliminary results, some 4.6-million European citizens responded to the online poll — the biggest in EU history, Bulc said — on whether they wanted the change. Since 1996, all Europeans have ...
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