October's time change is special: why the French will still be shifted to winter time

The change of 'time 2024, it's for this weekend. With a historical oddity during winter time.

It has been debated for decades. It is blamed for fatigue, sleep disorders, pollution and even road deaths due to the greater darkness in the evening. The winter time change has finally arrived. In a few hours, at 3am tonight, it will actually be 2 hours ahead according to the official European Union system. The time change means an extra hour of sleep. But for many, the time will already be changed this Saturday night, when going to bed. For others, the time will be transformed this Sunday morning.

The origin of this device is to go back to the summer time that we have been living in since the end of March. Summer time was introduced in 1976 to take full advantage of the sunshine, especially at the end of the day, during the summer period. By moving the time forward, GMT+2 (i.e. a two-hour time difference with the so-called “solar” time), we would in fact save on lighting and heating. Savings contested and quantified by Ademe, the Environment and Energy Management Agency, at less than 400 Gw per hour on average now.

The change to winter time is only a return to “standard” time in France. But the country still has a one-hour time difference with the Greenwich meridian, or GMT+1. A historical oddity. France has indeed changed its relationship with the sun several decades ago. Originally ? The Second World War and more precisely, the German occupation. At that time, the invader refused to adapt to French time and first forced the occupied zone to switch to GMT+1, Berlin time. The free zone would eventually switch to it as well a few months later, with the Vichy regime agreeing to switch to German time, in particular to make life easier for the SNCF and its trains. A decision with far-reaching consequences that has never been changed since.

Result: for three quarters of a century, the French have been living in German time for five months of the year, from the end of October to end of March, one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or GMT+1. The most optimistic will, however, be able to rejoice: this “oversight” of history, while certainly embarrassing, allows for more light to be retained at the end of the day during the long months of autumn and winter. Imagine: if we decided to base ourselves on natural time (i.e. GMT exactly), night would fall in the middle of the afternoon in winter, around 4 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. today.