Feb. 9 (UPI) — The European Union voted Thursday to review whether they should keep daylight saving time.
EU Parliament members voted in favor of the study 384 to 153 in a non-binding resolution. The vote urges the European Commission to conduct a “thorough assessment” of DST and potentially “come up with a proposal for its revision,” Deutsche Welle reported.
The vote came after a petition out of Finland last month called for abolishing DST and pickedup more than 70,0000 signatures. Critics of DST reference a 2017 EU Parliament study that says the practice interrupts the human biorhythm, causing people to lose sleep, which leads to more accidents.
The petition then gathered more support from other Europeans, including in Parliament.
“Studies that show an increase in road accidents or sleep trouble during the time change must be taken seriously,” French MEP Karima Delli said, according to the BBC.
Any change to DST will need to be approved by Parliament, as well as the majority of EU national governments. According to Bloomberg, that process could take take more than a year.
