The European Parliament (EP) decided on Tuesday that the so-called winter-summer time changes would stop in 2021, news agencies reported.
The draft law proposing abolishing the twice-yearly clock change was approved by MEPs with 410 in favour,192 against, and 51 abstentions.
It is up to the each individual EU country to choose between summer or standard time, so the countries that choose summer time should do the switch on the last Sunday in March 2021, while those that prefer standard time will switch on the last Sunday in October 2021.
Under the current arrangements, EU countries move their clocks one hour forward on the last Sunday in March, and move them back on the last Sunday in October.
“Before we make a final decision on which time should become the norm, the member countries should conduct their own public consultations and take into consideration their citizens’ wishes. Also, when choosing a time zone, geography and regional specificities are important when choosing a time zone,” said the independent Croatian MEP, Davor Skrlec, member of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance in the EP.
MEPs also want EU countries and the Commission to coordinate the decisions to ensure that the application of summer time in some countries and winter time in others does not disrupt the internal market, said the press release from the EU Parliament.
If the Commission finds that the foreseen time arrangements could significantly, and permanently, hamper the proper functioning of the single market, it may submit a proposal to postpone the date of application of the directive by a maximum of 12 months, says the adopted text.
Croatian Transport Ministry said on Tuesday that no official consultations were held, but that, unofficially, Croats would prefer summer time, Jutarnji List daily reported.
However, Croatia's northwest neighbour, Slovenia, seems to prefer standard time.
Consultations are under way among the countries in the region in the attempt to coordinate and choose a single time zone, Jutarnji List said.
