Updated 5.15pm

The public has been asked to have its say on Brussels’ plans to abolish the practice of switching between summer and winter time.

EU Affairs Minister Helena Dalli and junior minister Aaron Farrugia on Monday announced a public consultation on the proposed daylight saving measure.

Read: EU set to end switch between summer and winter time

Currently, citizens in all 28 EU countries move their clocks an hour forward on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the final Sunday of October.

However, a recent EU-wide poll found that more than 80 per cent of citizens wanted to abolish the switch and favoured keeping the time used in summer for the whole year.

Around 54 per cent of the Maltese respondents to the poll had said he agreed with having one time.

Dr Dalli said the public was being asked to weigh in on the matter to inform the government’s position.

Dr Farrugia said the final decision on Malta’s position would be taken by Cabinet, however this would be based on what the public felt. A consultation meeting will also be held with social partners.  

“There will be an impact, through this change, on Malta – whether this is an impact on commerce, energy tariffs, tourism,” Dr Farrugia said.

Malta will not be able to stop the change, nor impose its own preferred time. Instead, EU member states will each vote on the matter, which will be decided by qualified majority.

You can have your say about the proposal by contacting the Equality Ministry. A website link allowing people to air their views on the ministry website was offline at the time of writing. A ministry spokesman said the online form would be available on Tuesday morning. 

The consultation closes on Monday, October 1.

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