Has the European Union abandoned the twice-yearly clock change to and from summer time? No, it has not: The European Parliament voted in favor of cancelling the switch to daylight saving time, or summer time, as it is also known, but the European Council, which brings together the leaders of all EU member states, has yet to agree on a unified approach. No final decision has been made on the matter, at the time of writing.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on October 26, 2024. It shows a screenshot of an article with a title in Czech, translated by Lead Stories staff as: "Time change cancelled. Countries in Europe turn the clocks for the last time in October."
The text overlay in Czech says, translated by Lead Stories staff:
Finally?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 31 09:06:01 2024 UTC)
The European Commission presented a draft directive in 2018 (archived here) that, if adopted, would end daylight saving time in all EU countries. However, no final decision has been made yet and no definite timetable has been set.
The European Parliament voted in favor of ending daylight saving time in 2021. The European Council, though, a body of leaders representing each member state, has yet to agree on its position on the proposal. A qualified majority of votes is needed for the Council to adopt a position in this matter. Then, according to the EU rules, a qualified majority of member states is also required to support the final text negotiated with the European Parliament.
Both the Council and the European Parliament have to agree in order to pass the legislation needed to end the seasonal clock changes, as also explained in the section dedicated to the proposal on the European Council webpage (archived here).
Most European countries, and all EU members, put their clocks forward one hour (archived here) on the last Sunday of March to make better use of the longer daylight hours during the summer and to delay the onset of darkness. Under the current EU legislation, summer time, or daylight saving time, ends on the last Sunday of October.
The Commission's 2018 draft directive followed a public consultation in which 4.6 million EU citizens called for an end to the practice. After an approval vote in the European Parliament, the issue was postponed due to more pressing events on the agenda, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, or the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Euronews reported in October 2022 (archived here).
Alice Krutilova, the spokeswoman of the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU wrote to Lead Stories in an e-mail on November 5, 2024, that the proposal cannot be expected to be pushed through any time soon. Since the Finnish Presidency in the second half of 2019, the proposal has been blocked among the member states in the Council, and the Council has never adopted a position. "In summary, the proposal can certainly not be expected to be approved in the foreseeable future, nor is it even being discussed," Krutilova wrote.
A search conducted by Lead Stories on the European Council´s website on November 6, 2024, for press statements using specific relevant terms, such as "summer time abolished," also did not bring any results that could support the claim (archived here).
