Summer time in Europe is the variation of standard clock time that is applied in most European countries (apart from Iceland, Belarus, Turkey and Russia) in the period between spring and autumn, during which clocks are advanced by one hour from the time observed in the rest of the year, with a view to making the most efficient use of seasonal daylight. It corresponds to the notion and practice of daylight saving time (DST) to be found in some other parts of the world. In all locations in Europe where summer time is observed (the EU, EFTA and associated countries), European Summer Time begins at 01:00 UTC/WET (02:00 CET, 03:00 EET) on the last Sunday in March (between 25 and 31 March) and ends at 01:00 UTC (02:00 WEST, 03:00 CEST, 04:00 EEST) on the last Sunday in October (between 25 and 31 October) each year; i.e. the change is made at the same absolute time across all time zones. 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 year-round was going through the legislative process as of July 2020, but had not seen progress since October 2020. Summer time lasts 30 weeks in years when the last Sunday in March is after the 28th; otherwise, it is 31 weeks.
History Summer time was first introduced during the First World War. However, most countries discontinued the practice after the war. It was then restarted in various countries during the Second World War and its immediate aftermath. Again it was widely cancelled by the 1950s, but reintroduced in isolated cases until the late 1960s, when the energy crisis of the late 1960s and early 1970s began to prompt policymakers to reintroduce summer time across the continent. It has remained in place in most European countries since then. Historically, the countries of Europe had different practices for observing summer time, but this hindered coordination of transport, communications, and movements. Starting in 1981 the European Commission began issuing directives requiring member states to legislate harmonised start and end dates for summer time. Since 1981, each directive has specified a transition time of 01:00 UTC and a start date of the last Sunday in March, but the end dates have differed. Successive Directives laid down two dates for the end: one on the last Sunday in September applied by the continental Member States, and the other on the fourth Sunday in October for the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 1996 the end date was changed to the fourth Sunday in October for all countries. In 1998 the end date was changed to the last Sunday in October; this happened to be the same as the previous rule for 1996 and 1997. The ninth directive, Directive 2000/84/EC, issued January 2001, specifies this rule and remains in force.
Efforts to abolish
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