Europe's Three Main Zones
Mainland Europe uses three main standard time zones, each advancing one hour eastward:
- WET (Western European Time) = UTC+0 in winter: Portugal, UK (technically GMT), Canary Islands (Spain)
- CET (Central European Time) = UTC+1 in winter: France, Germany, Italy, Spain (mainland), Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, most of Europe
- EET (Eastern European Time) = UTC+2 in winter: Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and parts of Russia
Summer Time (CEST, EEST, WEST)
In summer, most EU countries advance clocks by one hour:
- WET → WEST (UTC+1)
- CET → CEST (UTC+2)
- EET → EEST (UTC+3)
The change happens on the last Sunday in March (forward) and the last Sunday in October (back). This is different from the US schedule, which means the US-Europe time difference shifts by 1 hour during the brief periods when one region has changed but the other has not.
Countries Not Observing DST
- Iceland: UTC+0 year-round (WET, no DST)
- Russia (European portion): UTC+3 year-round (MSK, abolished DST in 2014)
- Belarus: UTC+3 year-round
- Turkey: UTC+3 year-round (since 2016)
Outliers and Surprises
- Spain: Uses CET (UTC+1) despite being geographically aligned with the UK (UTC+0)
- Norway and Sweden: Geographically span UTC+1 to UTC+2 but both use CET
- Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia: CET despite being on the western edge of the EET geographic band
The EU Debate on Abolishing DST
In 2019, the European Parliament voted to end seasonal clock changes. However, implementation stalled because EU member states could not agree on whether to permanently adopt "summer time" (CET+1/EET+1) or "winter time" (standard CET/EET). As of 2025, biannual clock changes continue in EU countries.
Meeting Across Europe
Scheduling a call between Lisbon (UTC+0 in winter) and Helsinki (UTC+2 in winter) spans a 2-hour difference. During summer, both cities are at their summer offsets, maintaining the same 2-hour gap. The window for overlapping business hours is comfortable, making intra-European scheduling easier than transcontinental meetings.