When will the clocks in Spain change to Central European Time?

Clocks in Spain will go forward one hour when Summer Time starts at 2am on Sunday, March 26.

The European Union sets the exact dates on which all countries in the bloc must change the time in both spring and autumn. A specific day and time to change the time are set by regulation so that there is no doubt: it is always in October and March.

Every year at the end of March, with the arrival of spring – which begins this year on Monday, March 20 – and the days getting longer, the biannual time change takes place.

Our clocks will move forward one hour in Spain, going from Winter Time to Summer Time, which is then maintained until next October. Specifically, the time change always takes place on the last Sunday of the month of March.

The exact moment in which we have to change the time in Spain will be on the night of Saturday, March 25 going into Sunday 26. We need to move all of our clocks, watches, mobile phones etc, one hour ahead at 2am, which automatically becomes 3am peninsular official time.

This is probably the least pleasant of the two time changes that we make during the year, as we lose one hour in bed. As a result, we will notice in the mornings that the sky has not yet finished dawning, but, on the contrary, in the evenings, it takes longer for it to get dark. These time changes are regulated by Directive 2000/84/EC of the Council of the European Community.

One of the historic reasons for this time change was to promote energy savings by gaining longer hours of natural sunlight during working hours, thus reducing energy consumption.

It originated in the United Kingdom by one William Willett – the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay’s Chris Martin – published a pamphlet back in 1907. It was called ‘The Waste of Daylight’, and its contents were designed to encourage people to get out of bed earlier in the morning.

His material, which proposed the changing of the clocks, was discussed by the British government at the time but was never implemented until 1916. That is when daylight saving was officially introduced. In a sad twist of fate, Willett never got to see it in action as he died the year before.

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