Summer Time for 2020 Begins Sunday in European Union: Will Anyone Notice?

For what may be one of the last times, clocks in the European Union will change on Sunday at 1 a.m. GMT. At that time, which is 2 a.m. in Central Europe, clocks should be set ahead by one hour.

But for Britain and the Continent, in the grip of severe coronavirus-induced lockdowns, a different question emerges: will anyone notice, and will anyone care?

A few might even ask, what is the point, although the process does arguably bring one a step closer to the end of a siege at the hand of an invisible enemy.

Soon enough, the clocks will stop changing at all: the European Parliament last year voted to end the shift that jolts our circadian rhythms, and member states will – if they come out from under lockdown – choose whether to remain permanently on summer or on winter time. That this will create a situation in which neighboring countries in the bloc could be effectively in different time zones is another story, far beyond the purview of this feature.

For now, however, the change puts both sides of the Atlantic back in sync after a three-week period that followed the switch to Daylight Saving Time, on March 8, in most of the United States and Canada.

Summer Time, called Sommerzeit in Austria and Germany and British Summer Time or BST in the United Kingdom, will end October 25, 2020 and return March 28, 2021. Daylight Saving Time in the United States and Canada will end November 1, 2020 and resume March 14, 2021.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t set all of your watches and clocks, it may not matter because time for many has stood still.  To be honest, some of us may not be sure if it’s Sunday or Monday right now anyway.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)