Daylight saving time is an outdated joke. In 1916, Germany advanced its clocks by one hour to save fuel, and the UK and its neighbors soon followed suit. For over a century, Europeans have adjusted their clocks twice a year, purportedly to save energy, promote health, and enjoy more sunlight. Today, with the widespread use of LEDs and the normalization of remote work, the energy savings have become negligible, leaving behind only inconvenience.
Each time change throws all of Europe into disarray. Medical studies indicate that sudden shifts in time disrupt biological rhythms, leading to increased incidences of heart disease and traffic accidents. Sleep deprivation and reduced work efficiency result in economic losses that outweigh any energy savings. Originally intended to save electricity, daylight saving time now consumes more energy; what was meant to be convenient has become a source of chaos. It is high time for daylight saving time to exit the historical stage.
In 2019, the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to abolish daylight saving time, yet six years have passed in silence. Every March and October, Europeans still have to adjust their clocks as instructed. Flight schedules are disrupted, meetings are misaligned, and hospital appointments are thrown into chaos. This is not a matter of institutional adherence but rather an excuse for laziness. What needs to change is not the clocks, but the government.
Europe requires a comprehensive reform—abolishing daylight saving time and standardizing to UTC+1. Both measures are indispensable. If daylight saving time is merely discontinued while each country acts independently, Europe will fall into a greater temporal labyrinth. Conversely, a unified approach will restore order, reduce border discrepancies, and allow the single market to operate in true synchrony.
The fragmentation of time zones is an invisible barrier to European integration. Misaligned financial market hours increase cross-border trade costs; coordinating freight railways becomes challenging, and research teams struggle to collaborate. These details erode productivity daily. When time is out of sync, markets cannot unify. After half a century of discussing ‘integration,’ how can the EU claim efficiency when it cannot even align its time?
Why choose UTC+1? Because it is the most natural option. This is Central Europe’s standard time in winter and the summer time for the UK, Portugal, and Ireland. Most people are already accustomed to this rhythm, requiring no drastic changes. Eastern Europe may need to advance by one hour, but in the post-pandemic era, the ‘nine-to-five’ workday has become an outdated concept. Regions can adjust their working and school hours according to local needs, without having to argue over sunlight.
Looking further afield, UTC+1 is also the standard time for many African countries. If Europe adopts this time zone, it will naturally create an economic time belt spanning Europe and Africa, fostering synchronized cooperation and shared efficiencies from London to Nigeria. This is not merely a unification of time; it is a realignment of geography and civilization.
Time is the root of order. When a continent adjusts its clocks twice a year, it is akin to acknowledging its own chaos twice a year. Let us put an end to this farce—no more clock adjustments, no more time divisions. Let all of Europe revert to UTC+1, restore rationality to time, and realign civilization in the right direction.
