Jacqueline Foster (ECR). – Madam President, I think during my entire lifetime this has come up, and probably in most Member States you’ll have heard this over the years: should we change the clocks or not? Just a point for my colleagues: as somebody who was formally in the airline industry, believe me, jet lag isn’t a clock moving forward or back one hour, twice a year. Jet lag is something completely different.

I think the original directive was quite logical in terms of harmonising the biannual change, so clearly at least we changed the time at exactly the same time throughout Europe and throughout the European Union. I’m personally totally unconvinced by the scientific reports which, quite frankly, are inconclusive. Furthermore, on the grounds of subsidiarity, this must be a Member State decision and should not be a decision made by the European Union and imposed on Member States. A proposed assessment by the Commission in my view is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when there are far more important issues which we should be focusing upon in Europe. I therefore say, certainly on behalf of my delegation, that we shall not be supporting these proposals – despite all of the hard work done by colleagues.