The United States is moving to daylight saving time tonight. Why Bulgaria and Europe only on March 28?

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At 2 a.m. on March 14, the United States switched to daylight saving time and moved the hands one hour forward.

In our country and in Europe, this will happen on March 28 and it is not at all certain that this will be the last time, although the European Parliament voted in 2019 to completely abandon the changes in the time of year twice a year.

According to European plans, this year was to be the last time the weather changed.

Countries that chose to stick to summer time had to stop the process in March, while those who preferred the winter schedule would make the final change in October.

In the United States, the change of the clock is also expected to stop after senators from both parties have taken measures to legalize year-round summer time in the country. At the state level, these changes are already a fact in California, Florida and other states.

But as European experience shows, stopping summer time is not easy. This month, EU residents will move their watch one hour forward across the continent (March 28, two weeks after the United States), without any confirmation that the practice will be abandoned next year or any other year.

The main reason for the delay is the pandemic, with Brexit also having an impact.

Following the vote in the European Parliament, the change had to be implemented following an agreement in the European Council, the EU’s governing body, which consists of the prime ministers of each country. The Council then referred the matter to the European Commission, the EU’s executive, saying it could not push through the change until the commission had made an impact assessment. The Commission, for its part, explained that this issue should be referred to the Council, which should first find a solution on a common position.

There is no such solution yet, as European governments, as well as the whole world, currently have bigger problems with the coronavirus pandemic.

Brexit further complicated the picture. The United Kingdom is no longer a member of the union and has no plans to give up daylight saving time within its borders. However, if Ireland follows the rest of the EU and abandons daylight saving time, this will lead to two different time zones on the island in half a year – one in the republic and one in the British-ruled Northern Ireland.

So in Europe, the clock change will last at least another year. Meanwhile, many countries on the Old Continent, including Turkey, Russia and Belarus, have already given up on changing times.

Starting tomorrow, the arrows will move forward in the United States, and in two weeks the time difference with Europe will be an hour less. By the way, in the United States, different geographical areas can choose summer or winter time. Most of Arizona and all of Hawaii have now given up daylight saving time, as have several U.S. territories.

But why is the United States changing times earlier than Europe?

The reason was the oil embargo in 1970. At that time, oil prices were rising and it was assumed that extending the day could save 10,000 barrels of oil per day.

Therefore, in 1974, the United States introduced part-time daylight saving time, moving the hands one hour forward in January. This changed in 1975, when daylight saving time began in late February. During this time in the UK, daylight saving time begins in late March. After the oil crisis ended, the United States switched to summer time again in late April, but there were new changes.

In Europe, daylight saving time was first introduced in Germany in 1916, and the main argument that is still valid is the prospect of energy savings.

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