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Clocks go forward one hour between 27 and 28 March 

Introduced during the 1973-1974 petrol crisis, daylight saving time was supposed to prevent an overconsumption of electricity. But over the years, calls have grown to abolish it and stay on the same time year-round.

The question, of course, is which time Europe wants to be on permanently? GMT+1, which corresponds to the current wintertime, would suit a country like Luxembourg well, but is less favourable for Warsaw, which is in the same time zone.

The advantage of GMT+2, daylight saving time, is longer summer evenings. In winter, however, it would also mean that the sun would come up an hour later. On 21 December, winter solstice, for example the sun would rise at 9.30am, compared to 8.30am currently.

In 2019, the European Parliament approved a commission proposal to put an end to seasonal clock changes. Brussels left it up to each member state to decide which time it wants to apply, with potentially chaotic results.

Luxembourg deputy prime minister François Bausch (déi Gréng) in 2018 spoke out in favour of harmonisation across the EU.

In a public consultation led by the European Commission, 79% of Luxembourg respondents said changing the clock should be abolished. This compared to an EU average of 84%.

Back in 2019, the European Parliament estimated that 2021 could be the last year with seasonal clock changes in the EU. However, there currently is no new date set to discuss the topic with the initial negotiations halted when the coronavirus pandemic took precedence.

This story was first published in French on paperjam.lu and has been translated and edited for Delano.