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Winter time begins on Sunday
Photo: A3462 Marcus Führer / dpa
At three o'clock in the morning next Sunday, the clocks in the EU will be set back by one hour from summer time to Central European Time (CET).
Then it will be light earlier in the morning and rather dark in the afternoon.
However, many people have had enough of the back and forth and are in favor of an end to the time change.
Lithuania's Transport Minister Marius Skuodis has now called on the EU to find a solution to the much debated issue.
"I consider it essential to take on political responsibility and finally to resolve this question through a joint EU decision," Skuodis wrote in a letter to several EU institutions.
The "outdated, ineffective and harmful time change regime" must be put to an end, he demands.
It was extremely disappointing that after several years of discussions the EU could not reach an agreement on such a simple proposal.
The EU has still not clarified the abolition of the time change
Lithuania - like Finland and the other two Baltic states Estonia and Latvia as well as Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus - is one hour ahead of Central Europe.
Eastern European Time (EET) instead of CET (Central European Time) applies there.
According to Skuodis, the government in Vilnius has already held a public survey and consultations on the time change in Lithuania.
This made it clear that setting a standard time would not have a negative impact on the economy.
The prerequisite for this is that the time difference to Western European countries is no more than two hours and the end of the time change is clearly defined.
In the EU, the time change should be a thing of the past.
In 2018, the then EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker announced: “The time change should be abolished.” First the end was planned for 2019, then for 2021. However, the 27 EU member states still have to decide whether they want permanent summer or winter time not clarified.
as / dpa / AFP