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 in 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:
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.
| Time of Day | Common Time Zone Name | Coordinated Universal Time |
|---|---|---|
| 06:06, February 16, 2012 (GMT / BST) () | Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) Western European Time (WET) |
UTC |
| 07:06, February 16, 2012 (CET / CEST) () | Central European Time (CET) | UTC+1 |
| 23:08, March 11, 2012 (EET) () | Eastern European Time (EET) | UTC+2 |
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