Rumors About the Seasonal Clock Changes Turn Out to Be Untrue

In the last few weeks, there have been several rumors that there would be no more seasonal clock changes in Hungary. At Thursday’s cabinet briefing, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás said that no change is expected for the time being, but if there is a unified European decision to abolish the seasonal clock changes, Hungary will support daylight saving time, reported Világgazdaság.

The European Union has been planning for years to abolish the seasonal clock changes, and now it seems that the process is finally coming to an end. If all goes according to plan, the practice of annual time change could disappear from 2025, as we have read on several national sites in recent weeks.

“The abolition of the seasonal clock changes requires an EU decision, thus there will be no change for the time being,”

said the minister in response to a question on the subject at today’s government briefing.

If there is a unified European decision, Gergely Gulyás thinks daylight saving time is more optimal than winter time. So far seasonal clock changes worked fine, but if we want to change this system, then it is worth introducing daylight saving time, said the Minister.

Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka

At the end of the day, there will be seasonal clock changes in Hungary this year too. The country will switch to daylight saving time again at the end of March.

This year, daylight saving time will start at dawn on March 30. The clocks will have to be set forward from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.

In Hungary, the seasonal clock changes has been introduced and abolished several times, and has been in use since 1980. Uniform EU legislation came into force in 1996, when all member states started using daylight saving time. The advantages of daylight saving time were originally justified by the fact that the extra hour of daylight would allow us to use less artificial lighting.

Today, however, the original economic rationale for a systematic changeover is largely questionable, as the world’s energy needs and consumption patterns have changed significantly. In addition,

clock switching can have negative effects on the human body in both the short and long term.

Following this, the EU decided to abolish the seasonal clock changes in 2021, after a broad consultation, but Member States have still not agreed on whether winter or summer time would be the most appropriate permanent time.

It is not all the same, because if Member States decide differently, the different time zones could cause disruptions in the functioning of the single market, especially in transport, trade and energy. Until this process is completed, clocks will have to be set forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October.

Government Announces the Biggest Tax Reduction in the EU