Government to seek discussions on daylight saving, path won’t be easy – PM

Members of the prime minister’s team say Lithuania’s position on time swapping may be formulated before the end of this month.

“We are taking actual steps: there was a discussion at the government yesterday, and the transport and communications minister supported the Finnish initiative (to discuss the directive). I believe the path will not be simple, and the main reason is that our people want this. We indeed do not feel well when we have to keep turning the clocks,” the prime minister told journalists on Wednesday.

He expressed certitude that the issue would draw traditional counter-argumentation about resulting problems in flight schedules, working hours and other inconveniences.

“If this is a universal decision – we will have one story. However, this is not very relevant for countries, which are located in more favourable climatic conditions,” the prime minister said.

Meanwhile, his spokesman Tomas Beržinskas told BNS that the Tuesday discussion at the government with ministry officials and parliamentarians resulted in “a decision to look for ways of opening an official discussion in the European format.”

“The issue should probably be submitted to the government’s meeting, this will probably happen before the end of the year, and it should move on from there with authorization and commitments for negotiations,” said the prime minister’s adviser.

15min.lt news portal has said that Lithuania’s Transport and Communications Minister Rokas Masiulis backed the Finnish position at the European Union‘s (EU) Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council on the need to start a discussion on time change. The minister emphasized on social networks turning clocks was entirely useless. This is not yet the Lithuanian government’s official position yet.

Under the EU directive, Lithuania and the rest of EU countries change times twice a year: clocks are moved an hour ahead at 4 a.m. local time on the last Sunday of October and turned back on the last Sunday of March.

The directive has no date of expiry. Every five years, Brussels publishes a communique, specifying a schedule of introducing and recalling the daylight-saving time.