Will DST be discontinued?
The members of the European Parliament have adopted a report demanding the abolition of the daylight saving time. They took into account initiatives which have warned about health, environmental and other consequences of moving the clock an hour forward, reports Jutarnji List on February 9, 2018.
However, the European Parliament’s opinion is not binding. In order to change the practice at the EU level, further steps should be taken by the European Commission. The calculation of time is currently determined according to the directive from 2001, and the European Union insists that all changes should be done simultaneously in all member states.
According to government sources, Croatia will adapt its position to whatever the European Union decides, which means it will abolish the daylight saving time if such a decision is made at the European level. Accordingly, the government would amend the current Decree on Summer Time Calculation, which was adopted recently in accordance with the current directive for the next few years in advance, that is, for the period from 2018 to 2021. In the explanation of this regulation, it is stated that the calculation of time in Croatia is regulated by the applicable law, which stipulates that the time in Croatia corresponds to the coordinated universal time increased by one hour (Central European Time-zone). This degree has transposed into the legal order of Croatia the EU directive, which determines that the European Commission shall publish a communication stating the date on which the summer time starts and ends for the next five years.
“Numerous studies, including the one which the European Parliament ordered in October last year, failed to prove any positive effects of shifting the clock but found negative effects on human health, agriculture and transport safety. The benefits of such a practice are marginal, while the negative consequences for health are much more serious than we have thought to date,” said Croatia’s Member of the European Parliament Davor Škrlec (Greens).
HDZ’s MEP Dubravka Šuica said that she advocated for the introduction of the summer time throughout the year, but added that the whole issue needed to be further explored. “I have supported an amendment calling for a review of time calculation and further analysis of the factors which impact the human health, but I do advocate for the introduction of a single time system at the European Union level. I support the research, but I personally stand for the year-round summer time, and I believe that the results of the research will prove it,” said Šuica.
Enrico Brivio, a spokesman for the European Commission, did not want to comment on further steps which the Commission might take. “This is a complex question. The Commission is currently studying the issue of the summer time on the basis of all available evidence,” said Brivio.
In Croatia, the daylight saving time was used for the first time during the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1916 to 1918, then during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and in the era of the Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945. In 1983, the daylight saving time was permanently introduced in then Yugoslavia, which included Croatia.
Translated from Jutarnji List (written by Tanja Rudež, Rozita Vuković, Augustin Palokaj).
