Lithuania might drop Summer Time (5)

On Wednesday, the Seimas Committee on Health Affairs welcomed the idea of renouncing the daylight saving time, and it is going to address the Government, so that the latter would in turn ask the European Commission to allow the seasonal time not to be applied in the territory of Lithuania. It is also intended to invoke the opinion of society: the Committee suggests conducting a social survey, the national public broadcasting web site Defli reported.

"We, the concluders, who are familiar with all the proposals, still believe that clocks should not be changed. This is the first concluders’ proposal of the kind. On the other hand, in order to request the European Commission to improve the corresponding Directive, we would need to carry out exhaustive research, i.e. medical studies, and look into a possible impact on transport, the environment, tourism, energy sector, and everything else. The social opinion should be a key factor. Thus, we suggest conducting a representational social survey,” Antanas Matulas, the Chairman of the Committee, said at the session.

Following the proposal by Matulas, the Committee on Health Affairs rejected the draft project prepared by Algimantas Dumbrava, who suggested keeping the daylight saving time, and approved of the project prepared by Dalia Teišerskytė and other members of the Seimas, in which it is proposed to "present the European Commission with the view of not applying the daylight saving time in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania”, and to authorise the respective state institutions to conduct studies regarding the impact of the provisions laid out in the Directive on the respective fields, and to carry out a survey of the residents of Lithuania on applying the daylight saving time.

For the resolution to become effective, however, it must be ratified by the Seimas.

Lithuania is currently observing the daylight saving time, which is introduced by advancing clocks by one hour on the last Sunday in March and it is then revoked on the last Sunday in October.

Following the resolution passed by the Government in accordance with the European Parliament and Council Directive on summer-time arrangements, the daylight saving time has been introduced every year starting from 2003 in Lithuania.

Most European Union (EU) countries introduced the daylight saving time in the 1980s of the last century. The first European Union directive on summer-time arrangements was adopted in 1980. It determined a general start date for applying the daylight saving time. The end date, which coincides with the last Sunday in October, was set in 1996 by the seventh directive that came into force.

Geographically, one fifth of Lithuania (the western part) falls into the first time zone, whereas the remaining area of the country is in the second time zone.

"I would like to note that according to the geographical data, Lithuania is divided into two sections: 4/5 of the territory are located in the second Eastern European time zone, i.e. Greenwich time plus two hours, and 1/5 of Lithuania falls into the first Central European time zone, i.e. Greenwich time plus one hour. The borderline between these two time zones is roughly drawn from the south to the north between Jurbarkas and Tauragė, and further up north – between Kuršėnai and Telšiai,” said the Advisor of the Committee, Egidijus Jankauskas.