On October 27th, we can sleep an hour more because we switched to winter time. But the Poles ask – we didn't change the time anymore, the European Union decided, why do we change it anymore? The answer is a pandemic, but we're past that. Years ago, it was believed that changing the time to summer and winter would be beneficial. Losses are now being calculated. When are we going to change that?
The heart of Poland's official time is the Time and Frequency Laboratory of the Central Metrology Office, where time is measured by the most accurate atomic clocks. Here is a sample of all Polish watches.
READ ALSO: Time change. “It would be nice to end this flow”
The question is, what about this hour that we sometimes gain and sometimes lose depending on the season?
“The moment of change is disturbing, but later we feel relatively comfortable in winter and summer,” explains Dr. Maciej Grushinsky, head of the laboratory of new technologies of time and length of the Central Office of Measures.
The pandemic ruined the plans
However, this comfort has been questioned for at least six years. At that time, in the consultations held by the European Commission, the vast majority of surveyed Europeans supported the cancellation of time changes. After that, the European Parliament passed a resolution that seemed to put an end to the issue.
– No one applauds when EU law requires Europeans to change their watches twice a year. The time change must end, said the then president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in 2018. But along the way, there was a pandemic that derailed those plans. Question – what now?
Eva Kopacz on the change of timeTVN24
– Work is ongoing in the European Parliament. Ewa Kopacz, the vice-president of the European Parliament from the Civil Alliance, said it would be good to see an end to this ordeal.
Because this swing, like a pendulum, can throw almost anyone off balance. – I have a small child and it is difficult to replace him in time, – says one of our interlocutors. – After two weeks of time change, one person will recover, – adds another interlocutor.
– This time change costs us health – the risk of diseases increases, – informs Dr. Michal Skalski from the clinic for the treatment of sleep disorders of the psychiatric department and the clinic.
– There is no benefit to changing the time, – says Daniel Chizhevsky, an energy expert of the “Energetics24” portal.
Hundreds of countries around the world do not use the time change
There are losses – from several hundred million to two billion dollars worldwide. According to Japanese estimates, just one use can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000 tons and save up to 930 million liters of fuel. Japan no longer uses time changes like hundreds of other countries around the world.
Where does it go in winter? TVN fact
– The decision-makers of the European Union should finally take a tough decision or at least allow the member states to take this decision, – says Daniel Czyzewski.
The European Commission has now recommended that the current rules be maintained until 2026. But in the meantime, member states should prepare for changes.
– The members of the great European family are obliged to do so. Today, it remains a matter of processing by individual national parliaments, says Jakub Stefaniak of the Ministry of Development and Technology.
Currently, the Sejm of Poland is not scheduled to vote on this issue.
Time for changes – we heard this slogan many times from many politicians, for example, during the election campaign. And now time will depend on them. But everything shows that we should expect these real changes over time.
