This week could have been the first time that Europe did not have to observe the seasonal time change since it came into law across the region nearly two decades ago.
Although the decision was supposed to take effect in 2021, the coronavirus pandemic has delayed its implementation, pushing it to the bottom of the political agenda for many countries. The fate of daylight saving time in Europe remains unclear.
While Germany is calling for summer time, Greece and Portugal want to keep switching between the two. Forcing all member states to implement the same time would be complicated, as some would get less daylight than others. So the European Commission, tasked with executing the decision from Parliament, has asked countries to align with their neighbors. But even that would be tricky.
For instance, since the U.K.'s withdrawal from the European Union in 2020, the island nation is no longer concerned with the European Parliament's decision on daylight saving time. Yet neighboring Ireland, a European Union member state, will be impacted by a change to the current system, potentially complicating border crossings.
The debate over daylight saving time in Europe raged on via Twitter this week, as the clocks turned back on Sunday. Some people expressed gratitude for the extra hour of sleep, while others decried the shift as disorienting.