The (for most of us) conundrum of whether the clocks go forward or back may soon come to an end. A proposal has been adopted by the EU to get rid of the twice a year change of hour to summertime and back to standard time. But there is some confusion over what time to choose. Should countries stick with the summer time or with the winter time?
Currently the UK moves from what we call Greenwich Mean Time (although it is referred to as Universal Time Coordinated - UTC) to British Summer Time (UTC+1). France moves from UTC+1 to UTC+2. Each country can choose what system it wants to use; currently the UK, Portugal and Ireland use the same time, France and most EU countries are one hour ahead and the more easterly members are 2 hours ahead.
So unless all the countries make the same decision there could be a variety of times when crossing borders. If France adopts UTC+1 and Belgium UTC+2 one would need to alter the clocks every time you cross the border - and many people live on one side of the border and work on the other.
A government consultation here suggests that a majority would prefer to choose the summer time (UTC+2), but whatever system countries choose it will probably not be introduced before 2021.
It is worth noting that here in south west France we are very much on the Greenwich meridian so that our actual time would be the same as the UK, rather than one hour ahead.
NB the clocks this year will be advanced one hour on the night of 31st March.
