Winter time transition scheduled for October 25 in Europe

Europe will transition back to winter time on Sunday, October 25, 2026. At 04:00 local time, clocks will be set back one hour to 03:00, in accordance with established European Union regulations regarding the biannual adjustment of time.

This practice is rooted in energy conservation efforts. While the concept of optimizing daylight dates back to Benjamin Franklin in 1784, the widespread implementation of time shifts began during World War I, with Germany adopting the policy in 1916. In the 1970s, the practice gained further prominence across Europe as a response to the oil crisis. Since 1996, a unified European regulation has mandated the shift, requiring clocks to move forward in the spring and backward in the autumn to maximize the utilization of natural light and reduce energy consumption.