Keep standard time if we stop changing the clocks

Published Misc Braindump

Today, 25 October, the clocks in Belgium went back from three to two in the morning. If we ever stop changing them twice a year, I'd rather keep standard time, often called winter time. It fits our body clocks better.

Winter time is our current standard time, but not literally Belgium's original time. We used to follow Greenwich time. German time was imposed during the Second World War, and Belgium kept that one-hour difference afterwards.

Summer time spread during the First World War to save energy. Belgium reintroduced it in 1977. From 1980, Europe began aligning national arrangements, including for cross-border transport and trade.

Why standard time

Moving the clocks forward doesn't give us an extra hour of sunlight. Sunrise and sunset get a later time on our clocks. With permanent summer time, winter mornings would get light an hour later than with standard time too.

Morning light helps synchronise our body clocks with the day. More evening light can push our rhythms later, while school and work still start just as early. That's why European sleep and biological rhythm researchers recommend permanent standard time if we end the switch. For me, that matters more than the extra hour of evening light.

Coordinate it across Europe

If we drop the switch, I'd rather we did it together. European coordination was introduced precisely to avoid conflicting national arrangements. Let's avoid making train journeys or working across borders more complicated through new time differences. Stopping together doesn't have to mean putting all of Europe in the same time zone.

We're not there yet. The European Parliament voted in 2019 to stop the changes in 2021. But member states in the Council have not agreed on a common position, so there is no final agreement. A new European study began in February 2026 and is expected by the end of this year. Until the rules change, we'll keep changing the clocks.