Eastern European Time

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Time zones of Europe:
blue Western European Time (UTC+0)
Western European Summer Time (UTC+1)
red Central European Time (UTC+1)
Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
yellow Eastern European Time (UTC+2)
Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
green Moscow Time (UTC+3)
Moscow Summer Time (UTC+4)
Light colours indicate countries that do not observe summer time: Algeria, Iceland and Morocco

Eastern European Time (EET) is one of the names of UTC+2 time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in some European, North African, and Middle Eastern countries. Most of them also use Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) as a summer daylight saving time.

Contents

[edit] Usage

One country uses Eastern European Time all the year:

The following countries, parts of countries, and territories use Eastern European Time during the winter only:

Moscow used EET in years 1922-30 and 1991-92. In Poland this time was used in years 1918-22.

In time of World War II Germany implemented MET (CET) in east occupied territories.

[edit] Anomalies

Since political, in addition to purely geographical, criteria are used in the drawing of time zones, it follows that actual time zones do not precisely adhere to meridian lines. The EET (UTC+2) time zone, were it drawn by purely geographical terms, would consist of exactly the area between meridians 22°30' E and 37°30' E. As a result, there are European locales that despite lying in an area with a "physical" UTC+2 time, actually use another time zone; contrariwise, there are European areas that have gone for UTC+2, even though their "physical" time zone is different from that. Following is a list of such "incongruencies":

[edit] Areas that use Eastern European Time (UTC+2)

[edit] Areas west of 22°30' E ("physical" UTC+1) that use UTC+2

[edit] Areas east of 37°30' E ("physical" UTC+3) that use UTC+2

  • The easternmost part of Ukraine, incl. the cities of Luhansk, Donetsk, and Mariupol. The town of Melovoje, Luhansk Oblast, on the Ukrainian-Russian border, is the easternmost city in geographical Europe that applies UTC+2 (if political Europe, which includes the Asian part of Turkey, is to be considered, then that title goes to Şemdinli; see above)

[edit] Areas that do not use Eastern European Time (UTC+2)

[edit] Areas east of 22°30' E ("physical" UTC+2) that use UTC+1

  • The easternmost part of the Republic of Macedonia, including the city of Strumica
  • The absolutely easternmost part of Serbia, in the Pirot District, including the city of Pirot
  • The extreme easternmost tips of Hungary and Slovakia, bordering to the north and south respectively the Ukrainian Transcarpathian Oblast (Zakarpattia Oblast), a bit to the east of the Vásárosnamény, Hungary - Uzhhorod, Ukraine (both at 22°18' E) line
  • The easternmost part of Poland, including the cities of Lublin and Białystok
  • The extreme northeast of Sweden, in the Norrbotten province, including the cities of Kalix and Haparanda
  • The northeast of Norway, lying north of Finland, roughly coinciding with the county of Finnmark; for instance Vadsø, the capital of Finnmark, has a longitude of 23°49' E. Actually, the easternmost town in Norway, Vardø, lies at 30°51' E, which is so far east, so as to be east even of the central meridian of EET (UTC+2), i.e. east of Istanbul and Alexandria. The Norwegian-Russian border (incl. border passings such as Kirkenes) is the only place where CET (UTC+1) borders Moscow time (UTC+3), resulting in a two (2) hours time change for the passenger crossing that border. More so, there exists a "tri-zone" point (where UTC+1, UTC+2, and UTC+3 meet) at the Norway-Finland-Russia tripoint (look for the town of Nautsi in this map). Actually, it is interesting to perform the following mental experiment when looking at this map: Go to the westernmost point of the red area (the Jäniskoski-Niskakoski area); this belongs to Russian jurisdiction, hence the time there is UTC+3. Then, take a northeastern (NE) direction (that is an eastwards direction); you will soon be crossing into Finnish territory, thus moving to the UTC+2 time zone. Continuing in that direction, you will eventually reach the Finland-Norway border and enter Norway, thus passing into the UTC+1 time zone. So, moving in a (north-)easterly direction, you will actually be moving from UTC+3 to UTC+2 to UTC+1!

[edit] Areas west of 37°30' E ("physical" UTC+2) that use UTC+3

  • Practically all European Russia west of Moscow; This includes the chunk of land from Murmansk all the way south to Belgorod, including the cities of St. Petersburg, Novgorod, and Pskov, to name only a few. (The westernmost point of contiguous Russia, near Lavry, Pskov Oblast, 27°19' E, is actually the westernmost point in Europe where UTC+3 is applied.) To the above should be added the city of Anapa, at the westernmost tip of the Krasnodar Krai near the entrance to the Sea of Azov, at 37°22' E

[edit] Major metropolitan areas

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