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February 9, 2010
FDP to demand Germany end daylight saving time changes
Published: 22 Oct 09 10:52 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091022-22743.html
Germany’s Free Democrats (FDP), soon to be the junior coalition partner of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, want to end annual daylight saving changes in favour of keeping Europe on summer time for the entire year.
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“We want to start a new initiative that will end the reoccurring burden people face with the changes,” said Kopp, adding research had shown there are more driving accidents and schoolchildren were less focused in class after switching the clocks.
She criticised the last German government for failing to take up the issue before the European Union extended the current summer time regulations for all 27 members, but said the FDP would still press the matter since it was clear the time change had “absolutely no purpose” and plenty of disadvantages.
Kopp told the paper it was logical to keep summer time, when the sun sets later, as Europe’s “normal time” since it improved people’s quality of life.
Germany and the rest of Europe will set clocks back one hour on Sunday morning.
The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
as it was shortened to
"FDP to demand Germany end ..."
for a brief moment I hoped it would say "solidaritätzuschlag" - more fool me
I think I agree with them on every issue they stand for.
This is of course the problem with Germany's proportional representation system. A party that got barely 14% of the vote is in power and pushing their agenda ? quite a democratic deficit.
hour remained constant. So the clocks are put back an hour in winter. So in winter you can at least cuddle an hour longer. In summer there's not even time for a kiss.
(attached image)
Would it not just be easier to put the school starting times an hour later? Or are the teachers' contracts etched in concrete somewhere so this is impossible?
Now whether certain satelite countries deviate from this...
How about simply shortening the work day for "office workers" (e.g. folks that work in non-consumer positions)? I work in a small Bavarian village, in an office building (heck, I'm using company time to write this comment!) and in the middle of winter I go to work: DARK! Shops, stores, backeries: NOT OPEN YET. When I head home: DARK! Shops, stores, backeries: NOT OPEN ANYMORE.
I'm considering asking the boss if I can just come in at noon - get all my errands done in the morning, and "arbeit" from 12 - 20:00 uhr.
WHO'S WITH ME?!!!
...(crickets chirping)...
GWB didn't do the US any favors when he arbitrarily changed their rules. For a pro-business group, the FDP should learn from him. Aagh! I forgot, it's not about actually changing anything but just associating the party name with the concept, isn't it?
I personally would like to stay on summer time, preferring lighter evenings. Why is it called 'daylight saving'? There are still the same number of daylight hours, just shifted by an hour...
(attached image)
Oth it would be seem more logical to leave the time as it is (i.e. sun is high at noon, not at 13:00) and start the various activities (schools, working hours...) an hour earlier.