More than 40 MEPs from 15 countries and six groups have written to EU transport ministers, in a letter dated October 2026, asking them to reopen the debate on ending the clock change. derStandard, after APA, reported it on Wednesday, 21 October. Die Presse: 44 signatories. Two counts. A letter, not a new vote.

The initiative: Peter Liese (EPP, CDU), a doctor. The Commission proposed in September 2018; the European Parliament took its position in March 2019, by a large majority. The Council still has no common position, the letter says. The 2018 consultation: 4.6 million replies, 84 percent for abolition. Die Presse: 3.3 million from Germany and Austria — a geographic skew, not a referendum.

Liese: sleep problems, fatigue, concentration; the hoped-for energy savings have not materialised. The letter: any solution must be coordinated among states, so as not to harm transport, cross-border activity and the internal market. A request, not a law.

From Austria, after APA: Sophia Kircher and Lukas Mandl (ÖVP), Andreas Schieder (SPÖ). Kircher wants permanent summer time for Austria. Her goal, not a Council act. The Commission, a spokesperson to APA: a new study by the end of the year; member states should choose summer or winter time. An announced study, not a vote.

Die Presse: the file sits with the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council, not today’s plenary. Jüri Ratas and David McAllister are among the signatories, according to the same report. On the night of 24–25 October the clocks go back under the directive in force. The letter does not stop this weekend’s change. Abolition needs a qualified majority in the Council. Dump derStandard. The rewrite rests on APA/derStandard and Die Presse.

Image: the European Council building, rue de la Loi, Brussels, 21 April 2011, Antoine Meissonnier, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The Council, not the 2019 plenary.

Sources consulted: Und ewig grüßt das EU-Murmeltier: Schon wieder eine Debatte über die Zeitumstellung — Die Presse.