On the night of Saturday October 26 to Sunday October 27, we will switch to winter time. The French will therefore be able to sleep an hour longer, since at 3 a.m. it will only be 2 hours.
As the traditional time change approaches, sleepers rejoice. On the night of Saturday October 26 to Sunday October 27, the French will be able to sleep one more hour. The change to winter time requires you to set your watch back an hour and therefore gain an hour of sleep. At 3 a.m. it will only be 2 o'clock.
Implemented in 1976, the time change aimed to save energy by reducing artificial lighting times in the evening. This measure followed the oil shock of 1973-1974 which led to a surge in oil prices.
Harmonized in 1998 within the countries of the European Union, the time change only applies to France and not to overseas territorieswith the exception of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
Soon the end of the time change?
Today, as energy consumption patterns have evolved considerably, the usefulness of changing time is increasingly questioned.
“The energy gain would now be marginal, particularly due to the widespread use of low-consumption lighting,” notes the government’s public service website.
In 2018, the European Commission launched a public consultation. 56% of the continent's citizens said they were in favor of “permanent summer time”, compared to 32% for winter time (and 12% said they had “no opinion”).
In turn, the National Assembly did the same in 2019. Of the more than 2 million participants, 83.71% of French people said they were in favor of removing the seasonal time change.
The Commission then presented the same year a draft directive aimed at removing this measure from 2021. Due in particular to the Covid-19 crisis, examination of the text had been postponed and has not since returned to the discussion table.
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