In the night of 24 to 25 October, clocks move from 3:00 back to 2:00, giving a 25-hour night. Phones update automatically, but many car clocks, ovens and older alarm clocks do not.
EU rules tie the switch to the final Sunday in October, which must fall between 25 and 31 October. Because 31 October 2026 is a Saturday, the change lands on 25 October, and the next 25 October switch is not due until 2037.
The European Commission proposed ending the clock change in 2018, and the Parliament approved the plan in 2019. The Council has no majority for abolition, and the change is now planned to stay at least until the end of 2026.
A 2018 Bundestag study put the saving on national electricity use at 0.21%, while researchers at the Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the University of Kassel found just under 0.8% for Germany.
In Germany, clocks go back in the night of 24 to 25 October 2026, when the time jumps from 3:00 back to 2:00 and the night lasts 25 hours. Germany moves from central European summer time to central European standard time, which German sources call winter time. Most of Europe makes the same switch, while Iceland has no clock change at all. Russia and Belarus do not turn their clocks either, and Russia abolished summer time in 2014. Turkey also drops the change, so from Sunday it will run two hours ahead of Germany instead of one.
Phones and laptops switch over automatically overnight, but many car clocks do not, and ovens, microwaves and older alarm clocks still show summer time on Sunday morning. Anyone with an early appointment should rely on a smartphone. The ADAC and the Deutscher Jagdverband warn that each autumn switch brings more wildlife collisions, because the evening commute falls in the hours when deer and wild boar are most active. On Monday, 26 October, commuters heading home to Brandenburg will drive in the dusk.
The EU rule ties the switch to the final Sunday in October, which always falls between 25 and 31 October. Because 31 October 2026 is a Saturday, the final Sunday lands on 25 October, the earliest date the rule allows. The switch came on 26 October in 2025 and on 31 October in 2021, and this early date last occurred in 2020. In 2027 the change moves to 31 October, and a 25 October switch does not return until 2037.
The European Commission proposed in 2018 ending the EU-wide clock change and leaving each member state to choose permanent summer or winter time, and the Parliament approved the plan in 2019. The Council of the EU, which represents national governments, has no majority for abolition, and member states cannot agree on a standard time. Germany cannot decide the matter alone, and the plan now is to keep the change at least until the end of 2026. Germany introduced summer time in 1980, and uniform EU switch dates have applied since 1996.
In the 2018 EU survey, 84% of participating citizens voted to abolish the switch, but only about 1% of the EU population took part. Many votes came from Germany, while countries at the western and eastern edges of the bloc were underrepresented. Across the EU, 56% favoured permanent summer time and 36% permanent winter time, and preferences vary sharply between countries.
Data from the article text
The energy savings are small in the studies cited. A 2018 study by the Bundestag's technology assessment office found a 0.21% cut in national electricity use from summer time, and the same office's model gave about 0.2% for Germany. Researchers at the Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the University of Kassel found just under 0.8% for Germany, while a 2016 review of European studies by the same office put the EU-wide maximum at 1%. The BSW parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament, the party around Sahra Wagenknecht, calls the switch a bureaucratic exercise that helps no one, arguing that extra heating on cooler spring and autumn mornings almost entirely cancels out the saving.
A 2024 study in Scientific Reports used a computer simulation to model how quickly the body clock adapts to the autumn switch. With normal indoor lighting, adjustment took just under eight days, while a half-hour evening walk cut it to under three days. The simulation's figures cannot be applied one-to-one to every person, but the direction is clear. Light in the late afternoon and early evening helps, so people are advised to get outside before dark and dim indoor lights only shortly before bed. Anyone sensitive to the change can start a few days early by going to bed about 15 minutes later each evening and moving dinner or sport later in the day. Genes also play a role, since a variant of the SIK1 gene slows the adjustment.
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In the night of 24 to 25 October, clocks in Germany go back from 3:00 to 2:00, creating a 25-hour night. The EU has still not scrapped the switch, so the change stays in place at least until the end of 2026.
AI text based on reports by Wirtschafts Woche, Berliner Zeitung, Focus and other publishers. Published .