Winter or summer time? Belgians to be consulted on clock change

The Belgian government will consult the public about plans to scrap daylight saving time in Europe - and whether Belgium should adopt winter or summer time all year round.

The European Commission hopes member states can reach an agreement on which time zone to adopt by early 2019, after a large online consultation over the summer in which 4.6 million people throughout Europe responded. Greece and Cyprus were the only countries in favour of maintaining the status quo.

European Commissioner Violeta Bulc wants the hour change on 31 March next year to be Europe's last. If some countries opt to keep winter time, their clocks would change back on 27 October 2019 for the last time.

Some 50,000 Belgians took part in the Europe-wide consultation, and most were in favour of keeping summer time (UTC+2), whereas in the Netherlands most respondents favoured winter time (UTC+1).

Belgian prime minister Charles Michel told VRT it was important that Belgium discussed the changes with its neighbours Luxembourg and the Netherlands. "It would be absurd if different choices were made in the Benelux," he said.

If winter time is adopted, in late June it will be light from 4.30 in the morning and will get dark at about 21.00, instead of 22.00. If summer time is chosen instead, expect late sunrises in winter - around 9.45 on New Year's Day.