Transfer to winter time to be abolished due to Customs Union?

The issue of abolishment of transfer to winter time is actively discussed at the state television now. The commission, composed of the interested Ministries, is preparing materials, which will be considered in June. What is the basis for the necessity to abolish transfer to winter time? Euroradio has asked the head of the radio-electronic measurements department of the Belarusian Metrology Institute Aliaksandr Halyha about it.

"If the transfer was first introduced with the "energy economy" motivation, now this factor is practically absent: the economy is not essential. No one wants to get us an hour earlier in the morning. It takes time for an organism to adapt. We need to choose the time which would be convenient for everyone, and transfer to it. We did not rewind our clocks in the Soviet Union, and lived normally".

If the transfer to winter time is abolished then we'll have 1-hour time difference with Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia and 2-hour time difference with Poland from November till April. The most important part is played here by freight and passenger traffic, Aliaksandr Halyha explains.

"We are connected with the neighbouring countries: Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine etc Thus we need to consider all the issues connected with transport and other interaction. We can consider the issue of traffic between us and Russia, Ukraine, Europe - whether it will be more convenient, what the scope of traffic is, and choose the most reasonable variant".

It turns out that they are studying the issue with whom we have the closest relations, and after appearance of the Customs Union the answer to this question has become more evident. The issue of winter time transfer abolishment was raised before, but now, when Russia has declared its intention to abolish rewinding the clock back for an hour, this topic is discussed more actively, due to some reason.

"Russia's decision facilitated this, and the changes which are happening. We joined the Customs Union. Kazakhstan stopped rewinding the clock long ago, in the Customs Union. Maybe, Russia will do the same - there has been no official decision yet, but the President said they would abolish time transfer".

People will get used to the problem of time difference with Ukraine and Lithuania, although there was no such a problem before, Aliaksandr Halyha says. We already have an hour of time difference with Poland, and people are ready for this. However, the time difference with Poland will increase till 2 hours in winter.

Photo: open.az