Time in Europe
| light blue | Western European Time (UTC+0) |
| blue | Western European Time (UTC+0) Western European Summer Time (UTC+01:00) |
| red | Central European Time (UTC+01:00) Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00) |
| yellow | Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00) Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00) |
| orange | Further-eastern European Time (UTC+03:00) |
| light green | Moscow Time (UTC+04:00) |
Europe spans four primary time zones and generally switches to summer time at the same time; All member states of the European Union observe summer time at the same time of the year.[1]
The Central European Time (UTC+01:00) is the official time for the majority of the member states of the European Union and candidate countries. The 2nd most used, by number of states, is Eastern European Time:
- Finland
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- Greece
- Cyprus
- Turkey (candidate)
Other states using time different from CET are: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, parts of Spain, parts of France and Iceland (candidate). Most of these states use Western European Time, although this time zone is legally defined as Greenwich Mean Time in the UK.
The time zones actually in use in Europe differ significantly from their "pure" theoretical variants as used for example under the nautical time system. Theoretically the world is divided into 24 time zones of 15 degrees. 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 their theoretical borders. In Europe's case, the widespread use of the Central European Time Zone causes a major distortion in some areas from the theoretical time or the solar time. CET is theoretically centred around 15°E. However, Spain lying almost entirely in the Western hemisphere, and France with some regions to the west should theoretically use UTC, as they did before the Second World War.[2] The general result is a solar noon which is much later than clock noon. This results in later sunrises and sunsets than should theoretically happen. The Benelux countries should also theoretically use GMT.
Russia and Belarus have observed "permanent summer time" since 2011. [3] Iceland can be considered to be on "de facto" permanent summer time because it uses UTC time all year, despite being located more than 15° west of the prime meridian. It should therefore be located in UTC-1, but chooses to remain closer to continental European time, resulting in legal times significantly in advance of local solar time.
[edit] Time zones
| Time of Day | Common Time Zone Name | Coordinated Universal Time |
|---|---|---|
| 12:37, March 4, 2012 (GMT / BST) () | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) Western European Time (WET) |
UTC |
| 13:37, March 4, 2012 (CET / CEST) () | Central European Time (CET) | UTC+1 |
| 14:37, March 4, 2012 (EET) () | Eastern European Time (EET) | UTC+2 |
[edit] References
- ^ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:031:0021:0022:EN:PDF
- ^ Poulle, Yvonne (1999). "La France à l'heure allemande". Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes 157 (2): 493-502. http://www.persee.fr/articleAsPDF/bec_0373-6237_1999_num_157_2_450989/article_bec_0373-6237_1999_num_157_2_450989.pdf. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ Parfitt, Tom (25 March 2011). "Think of the cows: clocks go forward for the last time in Russia". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/clocks-go-forward-last-time-russia?CMP=twt_fd. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
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