EU halting daylight saving time in 2021

Time is running out on the twice-a-year European ritual of "changing the clocks" after politicians in the European Parliament voted this week to scrap it in 2021.

The practice of moving the hands on clocks forward by one hour in the spring and back by an hour in the fall, on two specific days, became widely adopted in Europe in the 1980s and mandatory by 2001. The Europe-wide synchronized clock change ensured all European Union nations' hours remained consistent with one another, something that was aimed at facilitating business dealings, vacations and energy savings.

Currently, the EU's 28 member states switch to "summer time" on the last Sunday of March, and back to "winter time" on the last Sunday of October.