During the last weekend of October this year, standard Central European Time (CET) will return to Slovakia. The change will take place on the night of Sunday (October 26), when Central European Summer Time (CEST) ends. On Sunday at 3:00 a.m. CEST, the clocks will be moved back one hour to 2:00 a.m. CET.
The weekend night will be an hour longer. Both sunset and twilight will occur on Sunday an hour earlier than on Saturday. On Saturday, the sun will rise in Slovakia at 7:12 a.m. and set at 5:27 p.m. CEST. On Sunday, however, sunrise will occur as early as 6:14 a.m. CET and sunset at 4:26 p.m. CET. Central European Time represents the natural time zone to which Slovakia, the Czech Republic and most of Europe belong.
The introduction of summer time was primarily driven by energy savings. It was also temporarily used by some countries during the First World War. From April 14, 1916, it was Sweden, later also Germany and Austria-Hungary. During the Second World War, summer time was introduced by Germany and with it by the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. From May 6 to October 7, 1946, summer time was in effect in Czechoslovakia.
After the Second World War, the introduction of summer time was abandoned in many countries. Its reuse occurred in the 1970s during the oil crisis, when energy-saving measures became a priority again. France was the first to take this step in 1976. It began to apply in Czechoslovakia in 1979. Summer time originally started on the first Saturday in April at midnight, and since 1981 already during the last weekend in March. It ended during the last weekend of September.
Since 1996, the European Commission (EC) has extended the summer time period every year until the last weekend in October. The movement of the clock has also been fixed at two o’clock in the morning, because this time has the least impact on traffic.
Daylight saving time is used in most countries of Europe and in most of Canada and the United States of America. On the American continent, it is valid until the following weekend, i.e. until November 2. Currently, the saving effect is negligible, and the main motive for changing time is better use of daylight in the summer. In Slovakia, thanks to summer time, the sun sets after 19:00 from the end of March until the middle of September, i.e. almost half a year (e.g. 173 days in Bratislava). Without summer time, i.e. in the year-round standard Central European time, the period with sunshine after 19.00 h would last only 113 days.
Central European time is sometimes incorrectly referred to as winter time. In fact, winter time is when the watch moves in the opposite direction to summer time, so it shows one hour less than the real time zone. In Czechoslovakia, winter time was experimentally introduced from December 1, 1946 to February 23, 1947. During the winter, morning light was an hour earlier, but in the afternoon the sun set already around 3:00 p.m.
Since its introduction, time alternation has had opponents arguing mainly about health problems. Based on a public survey from 2018, the EC proposed that the seasonal time change should take place for the last time in 2021. However, the discussions were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic or the military conflict in Ukraine. However, not even the EU member states can agree on which time should be kept permanently – summer or Central European.
The time change from Central European Time (CET) to Summer Time (CET) will therefore also occur in 2026. It will take place on the night of Saturday, March 28 to Sunday, March 29, with the hours moving from two o’clock to three o’clock. The change of time will continue to happen at least until the end of 2026, as the agreement on its cancellation within the EU has not yet been accepted.
