Will 2026 be the last year in which the clock is changed?

The desire of eliminate time change in European countries has been on the table for years, but the Member States do not agree on what schedule to leave permanent in all of them.

It all started in 2018when the European Commission carried out a survey, in which the 84% of the 4.6 million people who responded were in favor of eliminating the time change. They committed to fulfilling the project in 2019but the pandemic and disagreements between member countries They forced it to be postponed until 2021a year in which no progress was made either.

In 2023it seemed that the European Union would return to the issue, but the European elections arrived, and it seems that, Recently, experts have drawn up a transition plan to end time change and establish natural time zones in Europe permanently.

What would happen to Spain?

Spain is currently in the time zone CET (Central European Time), just like France or Germany. However, geographically Spain corresponds to the GMT (Greenwich Meridian Time), which is what Portugal or the United Kingdom follow, and which is one hour less than what the Iberian Peninsula currently has.

This means that Spain has a standard time that is not recommended for your time zonesuch as Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Portugal.

If Spain has this time zone it is because change that Francisco Franco established in 1940the year in which the country’s time advanced one hour, to be on par with the time zone imposed by Hitler in his occupied German territories.

According to the CIS, the 64% of Spanish citizens position themselves in favor of ending the tradition of time change. At the moment, the Government of Spain the time change continues to apply until there is a firm and concrete decision at European level.

How would countries be integrated into the project?

The next November 28members of the Network of Local and Regional Governments for time and security policies Time Use Initiativewill meet with MEPs in Strasbourg. The objective will be request an end to setting the clock back and forward every year to enter winter and summer time, and that this will be implemented in 2026.

The project would consist of two phases. In the first, all EU countries they would keep the time they use in wintereliminating the time change in spring and, countries that are already in the recommended time zone, would not have to do anything else.

In the second phase, countries that are not in that recommended time zone after the first phase –like Spain–, they would have to turn back the time in autumn to have the standard time of your recommended time zone as standard.

What does the BOE say?

The Minister of the Presidency published – as a consequence of the lack of European progress on the subject – in the Official State Gazette a official calendar with the start and end of daylight saving time from 2022 to 2026.

He October 25, 2026 It is the last time change that has published the BOEbut it is in the hands of the European authorities the final decision that the Member States must abide by.