Other events in Baltic States

He said that the northern European region is strengthening its position that daylight saving time should be abolished. Therefore, the government today voted on the national position.

At the same time, Latvia will not support separate EU member states sticking to different times. "This should be a common regulation across the EU," he said.

Aseradens was not able to tell when the EU might make the decision on abolishing daylight saving time, he just said that this will not happen soon. "The European Commission will start work on the issue this year, and, possibly, next year we will see the proposal," the minister said.

The Economics Ministry explained that Latvia supports all EU member states scrapping the practice of changing time twice a year, switching to summer time and back if the summer time is set as the permanent time. Such a decision would be welcome, considering Latvia’s geographic situation and the positive impact of the summer time on economic activities and people’s health.

At the same time, Latvia does not support the idea that abolishing of daylight saving time is left as the national issue. The ministry sees risks that if every member state makes its own decision on the issue, it might negatively impact logistics, communication and transport sectors, and create a situation that Latvia is in a different time zone from other Baltic states or Finland, for example.

The daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months so that evening daylight lasts longer. The idea first occurred at the end of the 18th century, while regular practice in Europe was introduced in the 1960-70s. Latvia started the daylight saving time practice along with the rest of the Soviet Union at the time in 1981.