Clocks in Europe go back an hour overnight as the debate over scrapping the change continues

What changes overnight

In the night from Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October, clocks in Spain, Italy and Germany will move back one hour. In Spain the change takes effect at 03:00, which will read 02:00 afterwards. Europa Press describes it as the last change in a ministerial order covering every adjustment since 2022, but it is not expected to be the last overall, since the EU's Official Journal already published the switch dates for 2027 to 2031 in March. In Germany the clocks are set back at 03:00 too, and winter time applies across most of Europe from Sunday morning.

Why the switch is still in place

The European Commission proposed in 2018 letting each member state choose between keeping summer time or adopting a fixed time, but the plan never advanced because of the differences it created between capitals. Spain's government took a proposal to end the change in 2026 to a meeting of EU transport, telecommunications and energy ministers in 2025, arguing that it barely saves energy and has a negative impact on health. Any end to the switch would require the Council of the EU, which represents member governments, to back the initiative, and Europa Press reports no progress since then.

Experts and groups are divided

The Asociación para la Racionalización de los Horarios Españoles (ARHOE) wants the seasonal change abolished and October's time kept permanently. Its honorary president, César Martín, said so to Europa Press Televisión:

We, as an organisation, advocate abolishing the seasonal clock change, keeping permanently this October time that now comes into effect.

Physicists José María Martín Olalla of the University of Seville and Jorge Mira Pérez of the University of Santiago de Compostela defend keeping the seasonal adjustment. In an article published in Chronobiology International in October 2026, they argue that a Stanford University study from September 2025, which linked the switch to heart attacks and strokes, contains a critical error because its computer model used incorrect geographic locations. Martín Olalla argues that the published results are not empirically supported until the authors redo all the calculations:

Until the authors redo all the calculations, the published results would not be empirically supported.

Health effects and pets

Mercedes Bermejo, a health psychologist specialising in family issues, told Europa Press Televisión that the change can temporarily disturb sleep, meals, daily activity and exposure to light, and that young children and vulnerable people may be affected most. In Italy, behavioural veterinarian Manuela Michelazzi of AniCura Clinica Veterinaria San Siro explains that dogs keep time through routine, so a meal served at the usual hour can seem late to them. Cats, which are most active at dawn and dusk, may shift their rest and activity as darkness arrives earlier in the evening. Michelazzi said:

It is not a whim, it is a real biological discrepancy.

Germany and Italy weigh the switch

A YouGov survey asked how long people in Germany need to adjust: more than half need days, 13% need more than a week, 26% about three days to a week, 27% one to two days, and 29% report no difficulties.

In the same survey, 44% fully reject the change and a further 27% rather reject it. A 2018 European Commission consultation found 80% of participants in favour of ending the switch, with about 3 million of its 4.6 million answers coming from Germany.

In Italy, Terna, the company that runs the national transmission grid, says this year's summer time cut electricity consumption by 300 million kWh, roughly the average yearly needs of about 115,000 households, and saved over 90 million euros. Terna also puts the cumulative reduction since 2004 at over 12.3 billion kWh, worth about 2.4 billion euros to citizens. On 1 October 2026 the Chamber's Productive Activities Committee concluded an inquiry into permanent summer time, recommending an assessment of ending the two annual changes and leaving the choice open between extended summer time, permanent summer time and permanent winter time.