TIME CHANGE 2022-Daylight Saving Time

Greece, as most of Europe, sets the clocks forward one hour on Sunday, March 27, 2022 (last Sunday of March), when Daylight Saving Time (DST) starts. Greece and most countries in Europe spring forward one hour at 03:00 am, it means clocks will show 04:00 am. Local time for the change is different in each time zone. European countries synchronize their DST, which starts on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday of October. Participating countries are: The European Union (EU), including Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and most other European countries, including Norway and Switzerland.  Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Iceland, Russia, and Turkey don't use DST any more but remain on standard time all year. In 2016, Turkey decided to end DST permanently so it will not make any change and, with the change of the time of Greece on March 27, the time for the two countries (Greece and Turkey) will now be same and there will be not 1 hour difference with Turkey which was one hour ahead.

In September 2018, the European Commission issued a draft directive to permanently scrap DST in the EU. In a public survey, more than 80% of 4.6 million respondents voted to put an end to seasonal clock changes altogether, but the EU Member States called for more time before putting an end to the practice. On 4 March 2019, the European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee approved the Commission's proposal by 23 votes to 11. The start date was however postponed until 2021 and the Commission had to ensure that countries' decisions to retain winter or summer time are coordinated and do not disrupt the internal market. The European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg has decided to abolish the change of time to summer and winter time since the last Sunday of March 2021. But this decision remains stagnant, since the corona virus pandemic has "frozen" some issues around the whole planet! If 55% of the countries representing at least 65% of the EU population want the time change to be abolished - even if the rest of the countries vote against - all countries must comply. The final decision, however, will be taken by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, after the final vote of the EU member states. At the moment, it is certain that on Sunday, March 27, 2022, the Greeks will sleep one hour less!