Changing times

Even the Guardian reports the latest hubris from the EC. They want to abandon the practice of changing GMT to BST and back again. Personally I would have no problem with a permanent BST, but it is a revealing story.

Initially we are told:

The move follows research that found the practice was unpopular and will require EU countries to choose to adopt permanent summer or winter time....Current rules mean every EU state has to switch to summer time on the last Sunday of March and switch back to winter time on the last Sunday of October, but Brussels proposes ending this across the bloc.

And there was me thinking this was a UK decision!

Lower down the column, we get more of a glimpse of the mechansims of the actual move:

The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said millions “believe that in future, summer time should be year-round, and that’s what will happen”. The move requires the support of all EU countries and backing from MEPs to become law.

It has been greeted with opposition in the UK:

[Peers on the EU internal market sub-committee] Committee chairman Lord Whitty said: “The European commission’s proposal to end seasonal time changes goes beyond its remit and is not in compliance with the principle of subsidiarity.”

A particular irony is that the entirely pro-EU ScotNats have always opposed the extension of BST on the grounds it would mean their Northern residents not seeing winter dawns until past 9 o'clock. Will they now object to the wishes of 'millions of people' in more southerly climes who 'stand behind' the President of the EC?