​On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the time changes, Romania switches to winter time. The clocks go back one hour so that 04:00 becomes 03:00.

On Sunday, the day will have 25 hours instead of 24, the longest of the year.

Why does time change in Romania?

The time change is carried out twice a year, in March and October. Since 1998, the transition to summer time takes place on the last Sunday of March, when the hands of the clock are moved forward one hour, and the transition to winter time – on the last Sunday of October.

On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the last weekend of this month, Romanians will turn their clocks back an hour. Practically this weekend, it returns to standard time, which was changed with the introduction of Daylight Savings Time, an idea first popularized by scientist Benjamin Franklin in 1784.

Daylight saving time adjusts clocks by one hour each spring and fall to make better use of natural light. In summer time, the hands of the clock are moved forward one hour (3:00 becomes 4:00), and in winter the clock goes back one hour and 4:00 becomes 3:00. We gain, theoretically, an hour of sleep.

The time change has been hotly debated in recent years, and the European Union has asked member states to decide whether they will remain permanently on summer or winter time, but so far no decision has been made.

Winter time 2022. EU countries were supposed to stop changing time

The European Parliament supports the proposal to abandon the transition to summer time. At first, the deadline was 2019, then they talked about 2021. By this deadline, member states had to declare whether they wanted to permanently use summer or winter time. However, for now, the debate remains up in the air.

To date, neither Romania nor the other member states have made a final decision to continue the custom of changing the time twice a year.

In response to citizens’ initiatives, in February 2018 the Parliament asked the Commission to evaluate the directive on seasonal time change and to make proposals for its changes, if necessary. After this evaluation, which collected 4.6 million responses, of which 84% were in favor of rejecting the time change, the Commission made a proposal.

The European Commission explained that the EU’s summer time measures require the time to be changed twice a year to take into account the change in daylight and make the most of the daylight available at a given time. Clocks go forward one hour on the morning of the last Sunday in March and back one hour on the morning of the last Sunday in October to return to standard time.

How the change of time affects us

An EU survey of 4.6 million people shows that people feel physical and mental discomfort due to the time change. People have difficulty falling asleep or even insomnia.

About 40 percent of respondents said they had trouble concentrating, and a third felt irritable.

Some people complain of severe fatigue after switching to daylight saving time (moving the hands forward one hour), which can be accompanied by a feeling of discomfort and even a headache.

Currently, 70 countries have such a system, and the EU adopted the time change in 1980.

However, winter time is considered standard, natural time, which is why it is also called Romanian legal time.