Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
It has become clear that seasonal time change is difficult to reverse, even though time zones do not align with solar time in many European Union countries.
Stopping seasonal time change is not easy, largely for political reasons. On Sunday, Europeans once again lost an hour as the clocks went forward.
It's something few people enjoy, as a 2018 poll showed that 84% of EU citizens oppose this annual move. According to what was published by the European news network in Brussels, "Euronews,"
According to scientific studies, changing the clocks can disrupt our bodies' interaction with sunlight, which can lead to sleep deprivation and affect many diseases.
Switching the clocks seasonally also contradicts the original purpose of this practice: saving energy, as Ariadna Guell-Sans, deputy director of the Time Use Initiative, explained to Euronews. She said, "This practice has proven to be wrong and therefore no longer helps us save energy, as it was created at a time when the internet did not exist and energy consumption was somewhat different than it is now."
Indeed, the European Commission attempted to end the semi-annual clock changes through a directive introduced in September 2018. The European Parliament approved it with a large majority and broad political support: 410 votes in favor, 192 against, and 51 abstentions.
However, countries have been unable to agree and have blocked the proposal so far.
Governments are discouraged from acting independently on these issues, as the EU wants any change to be synchronized to protect the functioning of the single market.
According to presidential advisor Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuania may raise the issue again during its presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2027. Asked about the issue, a European Commission spokesperson said, "We still believe that a coordinated solution can be found today." He added, "We encourage renewed discussions to find a solution, but we believe it is better for member states to decide among themselves."

Putting an end to the change is not the end of the problem.
However, putting an end to the clock change means making a decision, whether to maintain winter or summer time. This is also a real political problem, as time zones have always been influenced by political decisions.
During World War II, for example, Germany imposed its time zone on France and the occupied Benelux countries, and dictator Francisco Franco decided to bring Spain into line with Adolf Hitler's Germany.
More recently, the Ukrainian parliament canceled the switch to summer time to avoid mid-year alignment with Moscow Standard Time (UTC+3), which Russia imposed on the occupied territories of Ukraine. Such choices do not necessarily correspond to so-called "solar time." "We need to be as closely aligned as possible with our natural time zone. Simply put, this means that when it's 12 o'clock, the sun is at its highest point of the day."
This is not the case for Western European countries, whose clocks are significantly ahead of solar time. The result, especially in summer, is delayed sunrise and sunset, significantly impacting daily routines in countries like Spain.
That's why the "Time for a Healthy Society" initiative proposes a radical change with four time zones based on longitude.
The United Kingdom, France, Spain, France, and the Benelux countries will be in the same Western European time zone aligned with the current GMT.
Ireland, Portugal, and Iceland will be in the Azores time zone, one hour behind Iceland. All of Central Europe, including Greece, will be one hour ahead, and Eastern Europe, including the Baltic states, will be two hours ahead.
However, this new arrangement will pose new problems. For example, Ireland and Northern Ireland would have different time zones, which could create a new political problem.