Europe spans seven primary time zones (from UTC−01:00 to UTC+05:00), excluding summer time offsets (five of them can be seen on the map, with one further-western zone containing the Azores, and one further-eastern zone spanning the Ural regions of Russia and European part of Kazakhstan). Most European countries use summer time and harmonise their summer time adjustments; see Summer time in Europe for details.
| Light Blue | Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC) |
| Blue | Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC) |
| Western European Summer Time / British Summer Time / Irish Standard Time (UTC+1) | |
| Red | Central European Time (UTC+1) |
| Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) | |
| Yellow | Eastern European Time / Kaliningrad Time (UTC+2) |
| Ochre | Eastern European Time (UTC+2) |
| Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) | |
| Green | Moscow Time / Turkey Time (UTC+3) |
| Turquoise | Armenia Time / Azerbaijan Time / Georgia Time / Samara Time (UTC+4) |
▉▉▉ Dark colours: Summer time observed
The time zones actually in use in Europe differ significantly from uniform zoning based purely on longitude, as used for example under the nautical time system. The world could in theory be divided into 24 time zones, each spanning 15 degrees of longitude. However, due to geographical and cultural factors, it is not practical to divide the world so evenly, and actual time zones may differ significantly from those based purely on longitude. In Europe, the widespread use of Central European Time (CET) causes major variations in some areas from solar time. Based on solar time, CET would range from 7.5 to 22.5°E. However, for example Spain (almost entirely in the Western hemisphere) and France (almost entirely west of 7.5°E, as illustrated in the map below) should theoretically use UTC, as they did before the Second World War.[1] The general result is a solar noon which is much later than clock noon, and later sunrises and sunsets than should theoretically happen. The Benelux countries should also theoretically use GMT.
Russia and Belarus observed "permanent summer time" between March 2011 and October 2014.[2] Since October 2014 Russia has observed "permanent winter time". Iceland can be considered to be on "de facto" permanent summer time because, since 1968, it has used UTC time all year, despite being located more than 15° west of the prime meridian. It should therefore be located in UTC−01:00, but chooses to remain closer to continental European time, resulting in legal times significantly in advance of local solar time; this is of little practical significance owing to the wide variations in daylight hours in that country.
The European Commission proposed in September 2018 ending the observance of summer time in the EU.[3] In March 2019, the European Parliament voted in favour of proposing ending seasonal clock changes in 2021.[4] Legislation of the EU is decided by both the Parliament and the Council of the European Union, and the Council had not made its decision.[5] Each Member State had until April 2020 to decide whether to remain permanently on their previous "summer time" or their "winter time".
| Colour | Legal time vs local mean time |
|---|---|
| 1 h ± 30 m behind | |
| 0 h ± 30 m | |
| 1 h ± 30 m ahead | |
| 2 h ± 30 m ahead |
| Colour | Legal time vs local mean time |
|---|---|
| 1 h ± 30 m behind | |
| 0 h ± 30 m | |
| 1 h ± 30 m ahead | |
| 2 h ± 30 m ahead | |
| 3 h ± 30 m ahead |
Use
editOf the 27 EU member states (all use daylight saving time in the summer):
- The Azores (Portugal) observe Azores Time.
- Ireland, Portugal (except Azores), and the Canary Islands (Spain) use Western European Time.
- Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France (except overseas territories), Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (except Canary Islands) and Sweden use Central European Time.
- Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus use Eastern European Time
Of non-EU member states:
- The United Kingdom and the Faroe Islands observe Western European Time with daylight saving time, while Iceland observes it without daylight saving time.
- Norway, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, San Marino, Vatican City, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, and Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory) observe Central European Time with daylight saving time.
- Moldova, Transnistria, Ukraine (apart from Crimea) and Northern Cyprus observe Eastern European Time with daylight saving time, while Kaliningrad Oblast observes it without daylight saving time (Kaliningrad Time).
- Belarus, Russia (western part), Ukraine (Crimea), South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Turkey use Further-eastern European Time without daylight saving time in the summer.
- Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia use UTC+04:00 without daylight saving time.
- Kazakhstan and Ural regions of Russia (in European part) both use UTC+05:00 without daylight saving time.
The overseas territories of Denmark, France, and Netherlands are mostly located outside Europe and use other time zones.
List of time zones
edit| Time of Day | Common name(s) | UTC | Summer UTC |
Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:45, 9 December 2024 UTC−01:00 [refresh] | Further-western European Time (FWT) / Azores Time (AZOT) | UTC−1 | UTC | Azores (Portugal) |
| 18:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+00:00 [refresh] | Western European Time (WET) / Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) / Iceland Time (ICT) | UTC | Iceland | |
| 18:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+00:00 [refresh] | Western European Time (WET) / Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) | UTC | UTC+1 | Portugal (including Madeira); United Kingdom; Republic of Ireland; Faroe Islands; Canary Islands |
| 19:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+01:00 [refresh] | Central European Time (CET) | UTC+1 | UTC+2 | Most of western Europe; Scandinavia; Central Europe; Central southern Europe; Western Balkans |
| 20:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+02:00 [refresh] | Eastern European Time (EET) / Kaliningrad Time (KALT) | UTC+2 | Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) | |
| 20:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+02:00 [refresh] | Eastern European Time (EET) | UTC+2 | UTC+3 | Finland; Baltic states; Ukraine; Moldova; Romania; Bulgaria; Greece |
| 21:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+03:00 [refresh] | Further-eastern European Time (FET) ∟ Turkey Time (TRT) ∟ Moscow Standard Time (MSK) ∟ Minsk Time (MINT) |
UTC+3 | Belarus; Most of western Russia; Turkey; Abkhazia; South Ossetia | |
| 22:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+04:00 [refresh] | Armenia Time (AMT) / Georgia Time (GET) / Azerbaijan Time (AZT) / Samara Time (SAMT) | UTC+4 | Parts of western Russia; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia | |
| 23:45, 9 December 2024 UTC+05:00 [refresh] | Yekaterinburg Time (YEKT) | UTC+5 | Western-central Russia; Kazakhstan | |
References
edit- ^ Poulle, Yvonne (1999). "La France à l'heure allemande" [France on German time] (PDF). Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes (in French). 157 (2): 493–502. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ Parfitt, Tom; Meikle, James (25 March 2011). "Think of the cows: clocks go forward for the last time in Russia". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ "State of the Union 2018: Q&A on the Commission's proposal to put an end to seasonal clock changes", European Commission − Press Release (Strasbourg, 12 September 2018).
- ^ Buckle, Anne (Mar 26, 2019). "European Union Ready to Scrap DST". timeanddate.com. Archived from the original on Oct 12, 2023.
- ^ "Procedure File: 2018/0332(COD)". Legislative Observatory | European Parliament. Archived from the original on Oct 29, 2023.