This weekend time for summer time
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In the night from Saturday March 29 to Sunday March 30, we switch to summer time. At 2 o’clock in the morning the clock is turned an hour ahead. So we can sleep for an hour for an hour that night, but in exchange we get light for an hour longer in the evening.
Summer and winter time have been applied in Belgium since 1977. Due to the then economic crisis, the government hoped to save energy with that measure. It was assumed that people can benefit from the daylight longer in the evening and therefore need less electric light. Although that reasoning has already been referred to the trash through many studies, we still use summer and winter time.
Opponents of summer time indicate the disruption of the biorhythm. Moreover, in many countries it also leads to confusion, because not every country switches at the same time, making it a tangle. According to ViaS Institute, there are also more accidents on Flemish roads in the first week after the switch to summer time.
In 2018, the European Commission suggested to abolish the difference between summer and winter hours. The Member States did not succeed in agreeing what hour of the two to choose. It was finally decided that every country can choose which « clock » is abolishing.
Summer time runs until Sunday 26 October 2025. Then we switch to winter time again.
