On Tuesday in Strasbourg, the European Parliament approved the European Commission's proposal to end winter and summer time in the European Union starting in 2021. 410 deputies from the 751-member European Parliament voted for the proposal, against 192 deputies voting against. Following the approval, the European Parliament is now obliged to discuss this matter with the EU Council of member states. If the proposal makes it through this final step, then each member state will be able to decide independently whether it will remain all year round on standard time - sometimes called "winter" time - or on daylight saving time - also called "summer" time. Those who choose to be permanently on summer time will change their clocks for the final time on the last Sunday of March 2021, while those choosing to be on permanent winter time will make their final clock change on the last Sunday in October 2021.
Daylight saving time, which extends daylight one hour later into the evening, was introduced in the early 20th century, mainly in Europe and North America. The primary goal was to conserve the energy required to light electric lamps in the evenings, while in Europe it was also part of an effort to unify time zones between European countries. The practice, however, has always had its opponents, who have most often argued against it for health reasons. In the former Czechoslovakia, this fight was most famously undertaken by a baker named Stanislav Pecka from Eastern Bohemia who sent a letter to the communist prime minister Lubomír Štrougal in 1981 urging an end to the practice. Health reasons are also in large part the rationale behind the current move to end daylight saving time in the EU. However, the issue continues to be controversial, particularly among EU member countries in the north whose daylight hours are more dramatically impacted by the changes of season.
