France will end daylight saving time on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 3:00 a.m. local time, when clocks will be turned back one hour to 2:00 a.m. This annual change marks the return to standard time (heure d'hiver) across the European Union, including France.
The current EU rule, Directive 2000/84/EC, requires all member states to switch to summer time on the last Sunday of March and back to standard time on the last Sunday of October. In 2026, the last Sunday of October falls on the 25th, so the change will occur then, not on September 20 as the source article incorrectly stated.
In 2018, the European Commission proposed ending seasonal clock changes, and the European Parliament voted in 2019 to scrap them by 2021. However, the proposal has not been finalized because member states have not agreed on which time to keep permanently. As a result, the twice-yearly time changes continue across the EU.
France has applied daylight saving time since 1976, when it was introduced to save energy. Today, the debate over abolishing the practice continues, but until a new EU directive is adopted, French clocks will continue to change in March and October.
