Summer time in Europe

European Union Directive 2000/84/EC makes the observance of summer time mandatory for EU member states (except overseas territories).

A proposal to repeal this directive and require that member states observe their own choice[note 1] year-round is currently going through the legislative process as of July 2020[update], but has not seen progress since October 2020.

Historically, the countries of Europe had different practices for observing Summer Time, but this hindered coordination of transport, communications, and movements.

[6][7] In 2017 the Finnish and Lithuanian parliaments both voted in favour of proposals calling on the EU to reconsider daylight saving, with similar criticism from Poland and Sweden.

[10] After a web survey, that ran from 4 July to 16 August 2018, in which 4.6 million European citizens participated, showed high support for not switching clocks twice annually,[11] on 12 September 2018 the European Commission decided to propose that an end be put to seasonal clock changes (repealing Directive 2000/84/EC).

[14][15] The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which coordinates changes to the time zone database used by most computers and smartphones, notes that "With less than a year's notice there is a good chance that some computer-based clocks will operate incorrectly after the change, due to delays in propagating updates to software and data.

[17] An informal meeting of EU transport ministers on 29 October 2018 suggested that many member states would not support the "unrealistic" timetable and that implementation could be pushed back to 2021.

[26] A consultation by the Irish government found that 80% of those surveyed would not support any measure that resulted in different time zones between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

In July 2019, Ireland announced its opposition to the proposed directive and intends to lobby other EU states on the issue.

A qualified majority of 55% of member states representing at least 65% of the European population is required for the Council of Ministers to implement a directive.

In the Kingdom of Bohemia summer time was used for three seasons during World War I, from 1916 to 1918, while part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

During World War II, when the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia became a de facto part of Nazi Germany, summer time was used from 1940.

A national association against summer time (Landsforeningen mod Sommertid) exists,[39] which celebrated the EU commission preliminary decision in August 2018.

After the end of the war and the proclamation of the Weimar Republic in November 1918, summer time ceased to be observed.

In 1978, West Germany decided to reintroduce summer time, following the example set by several neighbouring states in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis.

For the tz database, the zone Europe/Busingen was created in its 2013a release,[47] because since the Unix time epoch in 1970, Büsingen am Hochrhein has shared clocks with Zürich, but not with Germany every year.

[53] A law was approved in 1965 that took effect the following year, and made the application of summer time mandatory in the whole country.

This time stayed in effect year round until 1942, when the normal clock followed the German DST switches.

However, in 1980 summer time was reintroduced (together with Sweden and Denmark), and since at least 2002 Norway has followed the European Union in this matter.

The start and end dates for summer time in Portugal follow the pattern in the rest of the EU.

[58][59] Summer time in Romania (locally known by "Ora de Vară") was originally introduced in 1932 (between 22 May and 2 October).

A decree of the Soviet government led to the abandonment of this system six months later: clocks moved one hour back again on 28 December.

The changeover dates in Russia were the same as for other European countries, but clocks were moved forward or back at 02:00 local time in all zones.

On 8 February 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced cancellation of biannual clock changes in Russia in favor of a permanent switch to summer time.

[62] During his 2012 election campaign, Vladimir Putin proposed re-introducing summer time, as some workers had complained about not seeing any daylight during the winter, since the sun had not risen when they went to work.

[64][65] Slovakia used summer time (locally known as Letný čas) in 1916, 1917, and 1918 (as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), then again in the early 1940s (as the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), a client-state of Nazi Germany).

[69] The public transport company SL changes their clocks at the legal time, and runs extra departures during the October transition hour.

The German village of Büsingen am Hochrhein, a small exclave entirely surrounded by Swiss territory, also observes the same time as in Switzerland.

[85] The regions of eastern Ukraine under the occupation of Russia, including Crimea, observe Further-eastern European Time.

As of August 2020[update], it appears that the UK government intends to continue to operate winter and summer time on these dates, irrespective of any EU decision on the matter.