The decision came after a majority of surveyed EU citizens said it should be abolished.
The European Commission will recommend that EU member states abandon the practice of changing the clocks in spring and autumn, opting instead to stay on ‘summer time’ throughout the year.
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pledged the change, stating that a recent consultation had shown that more than 80% of EU citizens were in favour of the move.
“We carried out a survey, millions responded and believe that in future, summer time should be year-round, and that’s what will happen,” he told the German broadcaster ZDF, adding the commission was due to make a decision later on Friday.
“I will recommend to the commission that, if you ask the citizens, then you have to do what the citizens say,” said Juncker. “We will decide on this today, and then it will be the turn of the member states and the European Parliament.”
This recent consultation came in the form of a survey in which over 80% of respondents supported abolishing changing the clocks in summer and winter.
Some 4.6 million people took part in the online survey, making it the largest one in EU history.
Christian Lindner, the head of Germany’s business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), welcomed Juncker’s support of the measure.
“Good news that the clock changes will finally be abolished — it was annoying,” Lindner wrote on Twitter.
Any change, however, would still need approval from the European Commission, the EU’s top executive body, the EU Parliament and the governments of 28-member states to become law.
Under current EU legislation, citizens in all 28 EU countries have been required to change their clocks an hour forward on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the final Sunday in October.
Outside the EU, a number of European countries have stopped switching between summer and winter time, including Russia, Turkey and Iceland.
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