THE EUROPEAN Commission says next March will be the last compulsory clock change – onto BST and CEST for the Canary Islands and Spain – and after that, each member State will decide for themselves what to do.
They will be required to inform the Commission whether they want to stay on summer hours, or whether they will once again change the clocks in October and whether they intend to continue to do so twice-yearly thereafter, or remain on either winter or summer hours.
Polls in the Spanish media show more than three-quarters of people in Spain want permanent summer hours, although Galicia wants year-round BST and Portugal, directly to the south, wants to carry on with the twice-yearly clock change.
A committee set up by Pedro Sánchez's government will discuss what to do.
Meanwhile, the Canary Islands wants to remain on a different time zone to the mainland, largely because of its geographical location, but also because of its 24-times-daily mention on the radio when the hour is announced.
Its regional government has asked to be part of Sánchez's committee.
A majority of European Commissioners are concerned about the health effects of compulsory clock changes, which is why these will no longer be obligatory – along with the fact that 93% of Spanish respondents to the Commission's survey want to stay on the same time year-round, as do 80% of the 4.6 million respondents overall.
