Summertime

Source: FD, by Jean Dohmen

On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the clocks will go forward another hour and we will already be entering summer time. For years, summer and winter time have been a point of discussion in Europe. In the Netherlands, summer time has already been introduced twice. In 1916, to save energy and in 1977, so as not to fall behind other countries that reintroduced summer time at the time. Summer time lasted for 30 years the first time and now the counter stands at 46 years.

Resistance has always been there
In the 1920s, the Plattelandersbond, a kind of predecessor of the BBB, led by Arend Braat, tried unsuccessfully to abolish summer time in the Lower House about five times. Farmers were used to getting up early, and changing the clock robbed them of an hour of morning light.

When summer time disappeared in 1946 as other countries abandoned it, the Social and Economic Council in 1968 was not keen on reintroducing it. Businesses gained little on balance.

Energy savings were also disappointing. More recent studies confirm this. American researchers even concluded in 2009 that instead of saving energy, summer time actually leads to slightly more electricity consumption. Essent saw no extreme differences when switching from summer to winter time in 2020.

Health
RIVM concluded in 2019 that changing the clock causes sleep problems. More heart attacks occur even after the change to summer time. Winter time, the 'standard time' according to the RIVM, best matches the biorhythm.

So all reasons to abolish the time change. However, Europe had more important things on its mind than discussing the clock. Corona, War etc. etc..

The plan to stop summer/winter time is sitting in the well-known Brussels deep freeze where it will not come out any time soon. And so this weekend, when summer time starts, the clock will simply go forward again.