Clocks Go Back on 25 October 2026 — and Why Turkey No Longer Changes

Summer time ends across the European Union and the United Kingdom on Sunday, 25 October 2026. In Germany and the rest of Central Europe, clocks go back one hour at 3:00 CEST to 2:00 CET; in the UK they go back at 2:00 BST to 1:00 GMT. Both changes happen at the same instant, 01:00 UTC. Turkey does not change: it has stayed on UTC+3 all year since 2016. For the next five months the time difference between Germany and Turkey therefore grows from one hour to two, and between the UK and Turkey from two hours to three, until EU and UK clocks go forward again on 28 March 2027.

When exactly do the clocks go back on 25 October 2026?

The legal basis in the EU is Directive 2000/84/EC on summer-time arrangements. It sets the end of summer time in every member state at 1:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on the last Sunday in October, and the start at the same hour on the last Sunday in March. A Council of the EU note of 20 October 2025 restates the rule: all participating countries switch at the same moment, 01:00 UTC, while the local clock time differs by time zone. In Germany this means the night from Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October has 25 hours, as web.de reported on 19 October 2026: at 3:00 the clock jumps back to 2:00 and Central European Time (MEZ), officially called standard time, applies again. The UK government's own calendar lists the same Sunday: clocks go back at 2am on 25 October 2026 and go forward at 1am on 28 March 2027. In Germany, legal time is kept by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig; its time and frequency department, headed by Ekkehard Peik, distributes it via the DCF77 longwave transmitter, the internet and satellite links, which web.de says resets around 100 million radio-controlled clocks. North America changes a week later, on 1 November 2026, according to Turkey's Dünya newspaper.

Why doesn't Turkey change its clocks?

Turkey moved its clocks forward as usual at 03:00 on 27 March 2016 and then never moved them back. A Council of Ministers decision, No. 2016/9154, published in the Resmi Gazete (Official Gazette) on 8 September 2016, made that summer-time setting apply all year, fixing the country at UTC+3. NTV reported that the Energy Ministry had sent the draft to the Prime Ministry on 6 September 2016. The legal basis was Law No. 697, which lets the government set summer time within limits. The decision was challenged in court. A parent complained that children were travelling to school before dawn in winter. According to Hukuki Haber and NTV, the Council of State's 10th Chamber rejected a stay request on 9 May 2017, but on 14 September 2017 its Plenary of Administrative Law Chambers suspended the decision by majority vote, finding that the cabinet could set start and end dates but not make summer time permanent. The government did not change course: Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said on 28 September 2017 that Turkey would continue on the same path and called the ruling procedural, citing an Istanbul Technical University study estimating about 540 million lira in savings, as Bianet reported. The Chamber of Electrical Engineers (EMO) had argued the opposite, putting the extra consumption at about 7 billion kWh. Turkey has stayed on UTC+3 since; Dünya confirmed on 5 October 2026 that clocks will not go back in 2026.

Time difference between Germany, the UK and Turkey — and what it means for travel

Germany–Turkey: 1 hour until 25 October 2026 (Berlin UTC+2, Istanbul UTC+3); 2 hours from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027 (Berlin UTC+1). UK–Turkey: 2 hours until 25 October 2026 (London UTC+1); 3 hours from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027 (London UTC+0). Example in winter: 12:00 noon in Istanbul is 10:00 in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam or Paris and 9:00 in London. At the moment of the change: 04:00 in Istanbul = 03:00 CEST, which becomes 02:00 CET, and 02:00 BST, which becomes 01:00 GMT.

Airline timetables are always printed in local time at each airport, so a departure from Istanbul and an arrival in Cologne or Düsseldorf are each shown in that city's clock. After 25 October, a hypothetical three-hour flight leaving Istanbul at 10:00 lands in Germany around 11:00 local time rather than noon. Smartphones and radio clocks adjust automatically; Turkish media advise that devices set to the 'Turkey/Istanbul' zone need no manual change, while ovens, car clocks and wristwatches still need adjusting by hand. Families in Germany and the UK calling relatives in Turkey, and anyone booking video calls, consular or medical appointments across the border, should recheck times after 25 October. Air links remain dense: Istanbul Airport was Europe's busiest with 1,530 daily flights from 5 to 11 October, according to EUROCONTROL data, and Sabiha Gökçen signed a sister-airport agreement with Cologne Bonn in September.

Is the EU still planning to abolish the clock change?

Formally, yes, but the file has been stuck for six years. The European Commission proposed ending seasonal changes on 12 September 2018, after a public consultation in which 84% of respondents backed it; web.de notes only 4.6 million people took part, three million of them from Germany. The European Parliament voted for abolition on 26 March 2019 by 410 to 192 with 51 abstentions, setting 2021 as the target, according to Yle. Member states in the Council never agreed. On 20 October 2025 Spain asked energy ministers to restart negotiations, arguing that studies show no meaningful energy savings; Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he no longer saw the point of changing clocks. In 2025 the Polish Council presidency had floated a two-year EU-wide trial of permanent summer time, and member states asked for more analysis.

The main argument in 2026 is health, not energy. A review led by Raymond Lam of the University of British Columbia, reported by dpa on 6 October 2026, concluded that permanent standard (winter) time is likely healthier than permanent summer time, because morning light stabilises the body clock; sleep societies make the same recommendation. The same report notes that the US (1974) and Russia (2011–2014) both tried permanent summer time and reversed it. In the United States, President Donald Trump publicly pressed Senator Tom Cotton in October 2026 over the stalled Sunshine Protection Act, which would make summer time permanent there. Turkey is not alone outside the system: Iceland, Russia, Georgia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico do not change their clocks either, according to a dpa-based web.de overview updated on 28 March 2026. Mexico last changed its clocks in autumn 2022; Ukraine voted in 2024 to scrap the change, but the law was never signed and did not take effect.

What happens next

25 October 2026, 01:00 UTC: EU and UK clocks go back; the Germany–Turkey gap becomes 2 hours, UK–Turkey 3 hours. 1 November 2026: the US and most of North America end daylight saving time. End of 2026: a Commission study, launched in February 2026 and run by Ecorys, Capgemini, Stratec and CE Delft, is due. According to a Council note of 3 June 2026, it is modelling ten scenarios, including permanent summer or winter time and new time borders between member states. 28 March 2027, 01:00 UTC: EU and UK clocks go forward; the Germany–Turkey gap shrinks back to 1 hour. 31 October 2027: the next scheduled switch back, unless the EU decides otherwise. Any abolition still needs a qualified majority of member states in the Council and agreement with Parliament.