Summer time in Austria: Convert watches and observe risks!

Summer time in Austria: Convert watches and observe risks!

In the night of Sunday, March 30, 2025, summer time begins in Austria. At 2:00 a.m. the time is presented to 3:00 a.m., which means that the night is shortened by an hour. While electronic radio clocks are usually switched automatically, many other devices must be adjusted manually. These include analog wall, stand and wristwatches, digital alarm clocks without a radio module, car radios, microwaves, ovens as well as smartwatches and fitness trackers without an internet connection, such as vol.at/sommerzeit- beginnt-was-jetzt-bei-ihren-muessen- and-warum-die-die-die-Zeit-nicht-verstummt/9307061" Class = "Source_1"> Vol.at

The time change can have health consequences that range from increased daily fatigue to sleep and concentration disorders to an increased risk of heart attacks. Despite these negative effects, the topic of time change still has a high level of relevance in the political discussion. The European Parliament voted in 2019 to abolish the time change, with the intention that the Member States should decide by April 2020 whether they keep the summer or winter time permanently.

The current state of the discussion

Although the planned changeover to a permanent regulation was planned for 2021, it was delayed due to the corona pandemic. Poland is currently examining the attitude of the Member States to change the time, but there is no concrete schedule for the abolition. In the night of March 29, 2025, the clocks will be presented by one hour, even if a draft law to abolish the time change is at the EU's agenda, such as Tagesschau.de supplemented.

An EU commissioner had originally declared that the proposal for the abolition had been withdrawn while a second spokeswoman later corrected this. The proposal has been blocked in EU legislation for seven years. EU MPs regularly request the end of the time change, based on a commission proposal from 2018, which asks the Member States to choose a permanent summer or winter time. Ex-Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressed his regret about the lack of implementation of the proposal, emphasizing that it is not a uniform time for all of Europe, but about the abolition of the half-year time change.

effects and regional differences

The inactivity of the EU countries is partly justified with other urgent topics such as Corona Pandemie and the Ukraine conflict. Some countries prefer permanent summer time while others prefer winter time. Greece and Cyprus, on the other hand, want to stick to the current regulation. An end to the time change could have different effects on different regions of Europe and the EU Commission is striving to avoid a patchwork of different time zones in order not to burden the economy and traffic. Political actors such as Anna Cavazzini and Markus Ferber demand from the Member States to seriously address the topic and to be heard to the citizens.