Zelensky won’t sign bill to end daylight saving time, media says

President Volodymyr Zelensky has no plans to sign a bill abolishing seasonal daylight saving time in Ukraine, BBC Ukraine reported on Oct. 24, citing anonymous sources.

Parliament passed the bill on July 16, which aimed to cancel daylight saving time in Ukraine.

This means that Ukrainians would set their clocks back one hour for the last time on Oct. 27, 2024, and will not revert back to summer time next spring.

The bill, signed by parliamentary speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, was sent to Zelensky on Aug. 21 but remains unsigned.

BBC sources in both the president's team and the parliamentary presidential faction confirmed the bill will not be signed.

The bill, lobbied by Stefanchuk, will not be vetoed but will also not be enacted. The government reportedly calculated losses from the change at "several billion hryvnias."

Many countries in Europe, North America, and elsewhere have adopted daylight saving time to make better use of longer daylight in summer. The clock is set forward by one hour in the spring and then reverted back in autumn.

The continued use of the practice has been hotly debated in the EU, and 84% of respondents polled in 2018 spoke in favor of its abolishment. While the European Parliament voted in 2021 to cancel the system, no final decision has been taken and the practice remains in use in much of Europe.

In spite of this, Ukrainian lawmakers presented the change as a step toward EU integration.

Meet the Ukrainian prisoner soldiers entering the fray in the Battle of Donbas

Editor’s note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only. DONETSK OBLAST – Sitting around in the long, dry grass outside an abandoned village house, two dozen men in summer military fatigues…

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

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