Daylight saving time starts again. At night from Saturday to Sunday, the clock advances one hour from 02:00 to 03:00. For those who wonder every March (and October) where to push the hands again, there is my mnemonic: In the spring the clock goes forward.
Due to daylight saving time, the night from Saturday to Sunday is 1 hour shorter. From then on, the dark will be longer in the morning but the light is longer in the evening.
As a result of the latter, more people will still want to go out late at night. For this reason, the curfew will also be postponed for an hour, although this change will not take effect until next week. Starting next Wednesday, not everyone has to stay until 10 PM, unless you have an exemption, for example because of your work or walking the dog.
Summer had to save electricity
Daylight saving time is designed to allow people to make more use of the available daylight. It can save on electric lighting. Opponents suspect this and many people say they are physically struggling with the change of time: it disrupts the biological clock.
Daylight saving time has been in effect in the Netherlands since 1916, although different rules have applied since then. In fact, there was no DST at all from 1946 to 1976. Since 1996, DST begins at the last weekend in March and returns to standard time at the last weekend in October. Winter time is actually “normal” time.
The plan of the European Parliament in the refrigerator
A few years ago, it still seemed like resetting the watch every six months would eventually come to an end. The majority of MEPs wanted to stop this year.
EU member states can decide for themselves whether to switch permanently to summer or winter after that, but Parliament has adopted a postponement clause to avoid the mixing of different times. Member states have not yet taken any decisions on it.
