As every year, in the early hours of Sunday, March 31, 2024, the time change will take place.
So in the early morning the hands of our clocks will go forward one hour, that is, at 03:00 they will show 04:00.
In general, we will lose an hour of sleep.
In related announcement issued by the competent Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportthe following is indicated:
“We remind you that, on Sunday, March 31, 2024, the application of the winter time measure expires, in accordance with Directive 2000/84 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19/01/2001, regarding the winter time provisions. The hands of the clocks must be moved forward one hour, ie from 03:00 AM. at 04:00 am’.
The time change also applies in 2023 as Europe “froze” the debate on the repeal of the measure, which had started in 2018 and which would have led to the permanent maintenance of daylight saving time. So, in the early hours of Sunday March 26, the time will change and we will lose an hour of sleep, since the hands will move to 04:00.
How the measure started
The time change measure was initiated as it was thought that people would make better use of daylight during the summer months and save energy.
In the 70s, just two years after the energy crisis that broke out in Europe in 1973, it was decided to adopt the summer time measure by a large part of its states, including Greece.
Since 1996, a single, pan-European regulation has been in effect, whereby in the Spring we turn the clocks forward one hour (so that we use the daylight for an extra hour), while in the Autumn we put them back one hour.
Iceland has not adopted the measure. Belarus stopped changing time after 2011 and permanently adopted daylight saving time (UTC +3), to keep up with the change originally made by Russia. From April 27, 2011 and by decree of the Russian (then) President Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow Daylight Saving Time (+4 UTC) was established throughout the year.
Time change and energy crisis
On 26 March 2019, the European Parliament adopted its position on the Commission’s proposal, favoring the abolition of seasonal time changes, however, it postponed the decision of the member states for two years, until 2021.
A series of bureaucratic issues, however, such as Brexit, the pandemic, and now the war in Ukraine and the effects it has had on the entire European continent with the increase in energy prices, have led to a suspension of the implementation of the decision.
The connection of the debate on the repeal of the measure, with the energy crisis and whether it would be beneficial, is now under the “microscope” of the experts, who prepare studies on the subject. Some experts argue that permanent daylight saving time could lead to energy savings. Other research, however, disputes this claim.
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