Tick tock… Prepare your watches, clocks and microwave screen: the time change is fast approaching. On the night of Saturday October 29 to Sunday October 30, you will therefore have to move your hand back one hour: at three in the morning, it will actually be two in the morning. In short, you’ll sleep a little more. Will this be the last time we change time in France? The end of this practice has been envisaged across Europe since 2018, but the file was put on hold at the start of the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 epidemic. If the project were to materialize, it would therefore be time to make a choice between winter time (UTC 1) and summer time (UTC 2).
If summer time offers us a few extra minutes of natural light each day, it has its share of detractors, who denounce its harmful effects on the economy or even health. Laetitia Moreau-Gabarain, president of the Citizens’ Association for a Fair and Sustainable Hour and for the end of double summer time (ACHED), agreed to answer our questions to better understand why it would be better to keep the ‘winter hour. You can find the top 5 reasons in our slideshow below.
In a circular addressed to the members of her association, Laetitia Moreau-Gabarain addresses recent news to list new elements which are also favorable to the transition to winter time. “The war in Ukraine is a great concern. The subsequent surge in prices is also a concern, particularly that of gas and diesel. For more independence from Putin’s fossil fuels and contained bills, we should consume less gas and oil. Reducing the time difference would help us do that,” she said.
In this press release, it recalls that “France’s standard time is UTC 0 (GMT 0), the same as that of London/Greenwich”, before concluding: “France’s time is advanced at all times. , shifted: in UTC 1 in winter, it is 1 hour, UTC 2 from the end of March, it is 2 hours, until returning to UTC 1 at the end of October”.
