Slovenian Govt. Favours EU-Wide End to Daylight Savings Time

STA, 26 March 2019 - The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to scrap the twice-a-year custom of changing the clocks by 2021. The Slovenian government is in favour of the decision, but it is not yet clear whether the country would opt for permanent winter time or permanent summer time.

Since national governments will be able to choose whether to keep winter or summer time, MEPs urged EU members to cooperate in making their decisions to prevent chaos on the single market.

Countries wanting to be permanently on summer time will change their clock for the last time on the last Sunday in March 2021.

Those opting for permanent winter will do so on the last Sunday in October 2021.

All of them must notify the European Commission of their choice by 1 April 2020.

The Slovenian government is in favour of the change, but wants an an EU-wide mechanism to be put in place to allow for a smooth transition.

The Infrastructure Ministry told the STA on Tuesday Slovenia's standard time is Central European Time (CET), which is actually winter time.

"If the custom of changing the clock to summer time is abolished, Slovenia will have the standard winter time all year long."

The ministry also explained this was not its decision, but resulted from the time act, a Slovenian law passed in the 1990s.

It said it had already asked neighbouring countries, which have the same standard time as Slovenia, about their stances, but received no reply yet.

Consultations are also planned at EU level, although it is not yet clear when they would he held.

If it turns out there is a need to change Slovenia's standard time to permanent summer time, the government would consult all stakeholders.

Last year's consultations showed Slovenians were more in favour of adopting permanent summer time as the new standard. The same was in Portugal, Cyprus and Poland.

During today's debate in the European Parliament, Slovenian MEP Igor Šoltes (Greens) backed the scrapping of the daylight-saving time, but stressed it should be done with caution so as not to affect the internal market.