Daylight saving time in Romania (known locally as “Ora de Vară”) was originally introduced in 1932 (between May 22 and October 2). Between 1933 and 1940, daylight saving time began on the first Sunday in April and ended on the first Sunday in October. Daylight saving time was discontinued in 1941 and reintroduced in 1979. Until 1996, daylight saving time in Romania followed EU rules, with a few exceptions. [57] After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, independent Slovakia continued to use daylight saving time. Since 1996, Slovakia has extended daylight saving time by about a month, so that, according to European Union regulations, it lasts until the last weekend of October. [63] Spain, including the Canary Islands, has summer time and applies EU rules on start and end times and dates. A consultation with the Irish government revealed that 80% of respondents would not support any measures leading to different time zones between Northern Ireland and the Republic. In July 2019, Ireland announced its opposition to the proposed directive and intends to influence other EU states on the issue.
They apply EU rules on the start and end times and dates of summer time. In 2015 and 2016, members of the European Parliament proposed abolishing summer-time compliance, but the European Commission did not present any proposals for consideration at that time, saying it had not found conclusive evidence of change and that member states were divided. However, it noted that costs would be incurred if harmonization between Member States` summer-time rules was lost. [6] [7] In 2017, the Finnish and Lithuanian parliaments voted in favour of proposals calling on the EU to reconsider summer time, with similar criticism from Poland and Sweden. The European Commission at the time examined this practice. [8] [9] Germany complies with EU rules on start and end times and summer-time dates. Summer time was introduced in Bulgaria in 1979 by a decree of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers. Bulgaria adheres to the European Union`s summer-time rules. [35] On 12 September 2018, the European Commission presented a proposal to end seasonal time changes in 2019 across the EU, leaving Member States free to set their standard time.
The system of half-yearly time changes is increasingly being questioned by citizens, by the European Parliament and by a growing number of Member States. The Commission has therefore analysed the available evidence indicating the importance of harmonised rules in this area in order to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market. This is also supported by the European Parliament and other actors (e.g. in the transport sector). The Commission also carried out a public consultation which resulted in around 4.6 million replies, of which 84% were in favour of stopping the half-yearly time change, while 16% wanted to maintain it. A report was prepared on the results of the consultation. As a member of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland observes daylight saving time at the same time as Europe. Daylight saving time therefore starts on Sunday at 00:00 East Greenland time and Saturday at 22:00 West Greenland time and ends on Sunday at 01:00 EGST and Saturday at 23:00 WGST. It was introduced in 1980 when Greenland was legally part of Denmark without local domination.
Most other EU overseas countries and territories do not respect summer time. The exceptions, based on the company`s decisions, are the northeast coast around Danmarkshavn (UTC year-round) for Thule Air Base (which follows Atlantic time and is observed in accordance with US and Canadian rules). Daylight saving time was first introduced in Hungary in 1916 and observed until 1919. After that, daylight saving time was in effect between 1941-1949 and 1954-1957. Summer time has been used again since 1980 and follows EU rules. Daylight saving time was first introduced in Greece in 1932 from July 6 to September 1, but the idea was later quickly abandoned. The European Parliament voted in 2018 to end the practice. Daylight saving time in Slovenia (known locally as “Poletni čas”) was established on 16 September.
It was introduced in November 1982 to be practiced from 1983. At that time, Slovenia was one of the Yugoslav republics. The same law was in force until 1996, when the end of summer time was changed from the first Sunday in October to the last Sunday in October. In 2006, the European Union standard was adopted, which is still used today. Croatia was part of Yugoslavia when daylight saving time was introduced in 1983. Yugoslavia was the last country in Europe to introduce daylight saving time. After gaining independence during the Croatian War of Independence in 1992, Croatia followed the path of Central Europe to change the time on the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October and the last Sunday in September until 1995. Summer time is known in Italy as “ora legale” (literally “legal time”, which refers to the fact that it is prescribed by law) and has been adopted and abolished several times: it was observed from 1916 to 1920 and between 1940 and 1948. [50] In 1965, a law was passed, which came into force the following year and made the application of daylight saving time mandatory throughout the country. [Citation needed] It has been coordinated with the European Union since 1996.
San Marino and Vatican City State share land borders exclusively with Italy and observe the same time as in Italy. A decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR reintroduced summer time in the USSR (e.g. Moscow summer time) on April 1, 1981, and its practice continued in the post-Soviet period until 2011. The dates of change in Russia were the same as in other European countries, but the clocks were moved forward or backward in all areas at 02:00 local time. Thus, in Moscow (local time = UTC+03:00 in winter, UTC+04:00 in summer), daylight saving time began the day before the last Sunday in March at 02:00 UTC and ended the day before the last Sunday in October at 03:00 UTC. (Note that “the day before last Sunday” is not the same as “the last Saturday” of a month where the last day is a Saturday.) During World War II, when the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia became a de facto part of Nazi Germany, daylight saving time was used from 1940. In the years 1940/1941 and 1941/1942, summer time was observed throughout the winter. Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man watch at the same time as Britain. Gibraltar uses the same time as Spain. Daylight saving time was first introduced during the First World War.
However, most countries abandoned this practice after the war. It was then taken over in various countries during the Second World War and its immediate consequences. Again, it was largely cancelled in the 1950s, but in isolated cases reintroduced until the late 1960s, when the energy crisis of the late 1960s and early 1970s prompted policymakers to reintroduce daylight saving time across the continent. Since then, it has remained in force in most European countries. Beginning in 1930, the period of the decree had the effect of imposing year-round time zone advances in the Soviet Union. The United Kingdom was a member state of the European Union until 31 January 2020 at 23:00 GMT. Since 1996, all clocks in the European Union have switched to daylight saving time on the same dates and at the same time, at 01:00 UTC+00:00[85] (Summer time therefore ends at 01:59:59 UTC+01:00). Daylight saving time was introduced in Turkey in 1947, but suspended from 1965 to 1972. Since 1974, Turkey has followed European summer time.
In Sweden, daylight saving time was originally introduced on May 15, 1916. It proved unpopular, and on September 30 of the same year, Sweden returned to standard time all year round. This went on for more than half a century. In December 2021[updated], the decision was not confirmed by the Council of the European Union. [31] The Council invited the Commission to present a detailed impact assessment, but considers that it is up to the Member States to adopt a common position within the Council. [32] Therefore, progress on this issue is effectively stalled. [33] [18] There are four countries that do not use daylight saving time, but maintain the same time throughout the year. On 20 September 2011, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) voted not to return from Eastern European daylight saving time to Eastern European time. [75] [77] This change would have resulted in Ukraine moving to the European Far Eastern time zone UTC+03:00 with Belarus and Western Russia (which do not respect daylight saving time).