Daylight saving time: a Spanish controversy

In the week the clocks went back an hour across Europe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reignited the debate over daylight saving time (DST) and raised his concerns with the EU.

“Changing the time twice a year no longer makes sense,” said Sánchez in a post on X. The change has a “negative impact” on Europeans’ health and lives, and a “review mechanism” should be introduced to assess the existing measures.

A ‘quixotic’ attempt?

Sánchez believes the concept is “outdated, inefficient and unhealthy”, said The Times. He questions its energy-saving capacity and argues the changes disrupt biological and sleep rhythms.

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The Spanish leader has long been against DST, which the European Commission said in 2018 it would remove. It has so far failed to do so owing to a lack of unanimity. Spain raised the issue at the EU’s Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

“It’s unclear if Spain’s effort is quixotic,” said Politico. Sánchez’s proposals require significant backing, though this can be achieved in many ways. He needs either the support of 15 of the EU’s 27 members, or a selection of countries representing at least 65% of the EU's population to back him. All the while, his measures can be dismissed if four or more “capitals oppose it outright”.

Sánchez’s “crusade” to stop the clocks may represent a hidden agenda. Opposition forces in the Spanish government have accused the PM of using this campaign to “deflect” from the “effective paralysis” of his party, said The Times, not to mention the “several corruption scandals that have tarnished his inner circle”. Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, and his brother, David Sánchez, are both facing corruption charges.

‘Sticking point’

It is thought that most Europeans are against the concept of DST, though they “begrudgingly” accept it, said DW.

Originally implemented in the 1970s as a means of preserving energy and resources following the oil crisis, Europe moves from Central European Time to Central European Summer Time. The UK, which stays one hour behind the rest of the continent, moves from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time.

The issue contains logistical complexities, which would require consensus before any changes were made. Perhaps the “main sticking point” is whether clocks would be permanently set to summer or winter time.

Clock time alterations at their core are a geoeconomic issue rather than a geopolitical one, international law expert Julio Guinea Bonillo told El País. Transportation, finance, digital software and logistics all depend on complete coordination: a lack of consensus between neighbouring countries such as “Spain, France, and Portugal could generate significant costs for businesses and citizens” in Europe.