TICK TOCK: Remember to put your clocks forward

THE clocks go forward in Spain at 2am tomorrow morning (Sunday) signalling lighter evenings and darker mornings.

The annual practice has been followed by the whole of Europe since 1981, but could be coming to an end.

The European Parliament has voted to discontinue daylight saving time. But before the proposal becomes a law, European Union member states must hammer out the details.

Under the proposal, each EU member state would need to choose either “summertime” (daylight saving time) or “wintertime” (standard time) by 2020. The change would come into effect the following year.

EU President Jean-Claude Juncker raised the issue in his 2018 State of the Union address. He said there is “no applause when EU law dictates that Europeans have to change the clocks twice a year,” adding that member states should be able to decide whether their citizens live in summer or wintertime.

In a 2018 online public consultation, 84 percent of respondents in the EU said they wanted to abolish the time change.