View source for Eastern European Time

{{Short description|Time zone in Eastern Europe (GMT +2)}}
{{About|the time zone with daylight change in Europe|the static time zone|UTC+02:00}}
{{Infobox time zone
| caption = {{legend|#d7d65c|Eastern European Time}}
| dst initials = EEST
| dst offset = +03:00
| image = Time zones of the Greater Europe.svg
| initials = EET
| offset = +02:00
| title = Eastern European Time
}}

{{Time zones of Europe}}
{{Time zones of Africa}}
{{Time zones of the Middle East}}

'''Eastern European Time''' ('''EET''') is one of the names of the [[UTC+02:00]] [[time zone]], 2 hours ahead of [[Coordinated Universal Time]]. The zone uses [[daylight saving time]], so that it uses [[UTC+03:00]] during the summer.

A number of African countries use [[UTC+02:00]] all year long, where it is called [[Central Africa Time]] (CAT),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/cat|title=CAT – Central Africa Time (Time Zone Abbreviation)|website=www.timeanddate.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref> although [[Egypt]] and [[Libya]] also use the term ''Eastern European Time''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/eet|title=EET – Eastern European Time (Time Zone Abbreviation)|website=www.timeanddate.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref>

The most populous city in the Eastern European Time zone is [[Cairo]], with the most populous EET city in Europe being [[Kyiv]].

== Usage ==
The following countries, parts of countries, and territories use '''Eastern European Time''' all year round:

* [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] ([[Russia]]), since 26 October 2014; also used EET in the years 1945 and 1991–2011. See also [[Kaliningrad Time]].
* [[Libya]], since 27 October 2013; switched from [[Central European Time]], which was used in 2012. Used year-round EET from 1980 to 1981, 1990–1996 and 1998–2012.

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

* [[Bulgaria]], since 1894, except between 1942 and 1945
* [[Cyprus]]
* [[Egypt]], in the years 1988–2010, 2014–2015 and since 2023 (see also [[Egypt Standard Time]])
* [[Estonia]], in the years 1921–40 and since 1990
* [[Finland]], since 1921
* [[Greece]], since 1916
* [[Israel]], since 1948 (see also [[Israel Standard Time]])
* [[Latvia]], in the years 1926–40 and since 1990
* [[Lebanon]]
* [[Lithuania]], in 1920–40 and since 1990 with a break 1998–1999
* [[Moldova]], in the years 1918–40, 1941–44 and since 1991
** Including [[Transnistria]]
* [[Palestine]] (see also [[Time in the State of Palestine|Palestine Standard Time]])
* [[Romania]]
* [[Ukraine]], in the years 1922–30 and since 1990<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/115146/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018151743/http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/115146/|url-status=dead|title=Kyiv Post. Independence. Community. Trust - Ukraine - Ukraine to return to standard time on Oct. 30 (updated)|archivedate=October 18, 2011|website=www.kyivpost.com}}</ref>

The following countries, parts of countries, and territories used '''Eastern European Time''' in the past:

* [[Moscow Time|Moscow]] used EET in the years 1922–30 and 1991–92. 
* [[Belarus]], in the years 1922–30 and 1990–2011<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/belarus-eternal-dst.html|title=Eternal Daylight Saving Time (DST) in Belarus|website=www.timeanddate.com}}</ref>
* [[Jordan]] used EET until permanently switching to DST in 2022.<ref name="jo">{{cite web |title=Syria and Jordan to Remain on Permanent DST |url=https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/syria-jordan-abolish-dst-2022.html |website=timeanddate |access-date=14 March 2024 |date=5 October 2022}}</ref>
* In [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], this time was used in the years 1919–22.
* [[Crimea]] used EET as part of Ukraine between 1991–1994 and 1996–2014 and started using [[Moscow Time]] due to the [[annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]] in 2014.
* [[Syria]] used EET until permanently switching to DST in 2022.<ref name=jo />
* [[Turkey]], used EET in the years 1910–1978 and re-used it again in the years 1985–2016.<ref name="time_Time">{{Cite web |title=Time Zone & Clock Changes in Istanbul, Turkey |work=timeanddate.com |access-date=6 May 2020 |url= https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zone/turkey/istanbul}}</ref>

Sometimes, due to its use on [[Microsoft Windows]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749073%28v=ws.10%29.aspx|title=TimeZone|publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> '''FLE Standard Time''' (for Finland, Lithuania, Estonia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/FLE|title=FLE|work=TheFreeDictionary.com}}</ref> or sometimes Finland, Latvia, Estonia<ref>{{cite web|url=http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Finland+Latvia+Estonia+Time|title=Finland Latvia Estonia Time|work=TheFreeDictionary.com}}</ref>) or '''GTB Standard Time''' (for Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria) are used to refer to Eastern European Time.

==Anomalies==
Since political, in addition to purely geographical, criteria are used in the drawing of time zones, it follows that time zones do not precisely adhere to meridian lines. The EET ([[UTC+02:00]]) 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+02:00]] time, are in another time zone; likewise, there are European areas that have gone for [[UTC+02:00]], even though their "physical" time zone is different from that. Following is a list of such anomalies:

===Areas outside [[UTC+02:00]] longitudes using Eastern European Time ([[UTC+02:00]]) time===
[[Image:Tzdiff-Europe-winter.png|thumb|300px]]

{| cellpadding="4" align="right" class="wikitable" style="width:300px;margin-right:0px;"
! Colour !! Legal time vs local mean time
|-
| style="background: #8f8fbf;" |
| 1 h ± 30 m behind
|-
| style="background: #bfbfbf;" |
| 0 h ± 30 m
|-
| style="background: #bf8f8f;" |
| 1 h ± 30 m ahead
|-
| style="background: #bf6060;" |
| 2 h ± 30 m ahead
|-
| style="background: #bf0000;" |
| 3 h ± 30 m ahead
|}

==== Areas west of 22°30' E ("physical" [[UTC+01:00]]) that use [[UTC+02:00]] ====
* The westernmost part of Greece, including the cities of [[Patras]] and [[Ioannina]], and the [[Ionian Islands (region)|Ionian Islands]]
* The very westernmost parts of the [[Bulgaria]]n provinces of [[Vidin]] and [[Kyustendil]]
* The westernmost part of [[Romania]], including most of the area of the counties of [[Caraș-Severin County|Caraș-Severin]], [[Timiș County|Timiș]] (capital [[Timișoara]]), [[Arad County|Arad]], and [[Bihor County|Bihor]], as well as the westernmost tips of the counties of [[Mehedinți County|Mehedinți]] and [[Satu Mare County|Satu Mare]]
* The extreme westernmost tip of [[Ukraine]], near the border with Hungary and [[Slovakia]], at the Ukrainian [[Transcarpathian Oblast]] ([[Zakarpattia Oblast]]), essentially comprising the city of [[Uzhhorod]] and its environs
* Most of the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]], including the cities of [[Kaliningrad]] and [[Baltiysk]]
* Western [[Lithuania]], including the cities of [[Klaipėda]], [[Tauragė]], and [[Telšiai]]
* Western [[Latvia]], including the cities of [[Liepāja]] and [[Ventspils]]
* The westernmost parts of the [[Estonia]]n islands of [[Saaremaa]] and [[Hiiumaa]], including the capital of the [[Saare County]], [[Kuressaare]]
* The southwestern coast of [[Finland]], including the cities of [[Turku]], [[Pori]], and [[Vaasa]]; also the [[Åland]] islands (of Finnish jurisdiction) &ndash; the [[Åland]] islands are the westernmost locale applying EET in the whole of Europe
*Most of [[Libya]] including the capital [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]
*The western half of the municipality of [[Enontekiö]] in northwestern [[Finland]]

'''Areas east of 37°30' E ("physical" [[UTC+03:00]]) that use [[UTC+02:00]]'''

* Eastern parts of [[Ukraine]], including the city of [[Mariupol]]

=== Areas within [[UTC+02:00]] longitudes (22°30' E – 37°30' E) using other time zones ===
==== Areas that use [[UTC+01:00]] ====
These areas have sunrises and sunsets at least half an hour earlier than places on the [[UTC+01:00]] meridian.

*The easternmost part of [[North 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|Norrbotten province]], including the cities of [[Kalix]] and [[Haparanda]]
*The northeast of Norway, lying north of Finland, roughly coinciding with the county of [[Finnmark]]. The easternmost town in Norway, [[Vardø (town)|Vardø]], lies at 30°51' E, which is east of the central meridian of [[UTC+02:00]], i.e. east of [[Istanbul]] and [[Alexandria]]. The [[Norwegian-Russian border]] and [[Belarus–Poland border]] are the only places where CET (UTC+1) borders Moscow time ([[UTC+03:00]]), resulting in a one (or two in winter) hour time change when crossing that border. There is a "tri-zone" point (where [[UTC+01:00]], [[UTC+02:00]], and [[UTC+03:00]] meet) at the [[Muotkavaara|Norway-Finland-Russia tripoint]], near the town of [[Rayakoski]].

==== Areas that use [[UTC+03:00]] ====
Most of the following countries use winter time year round, so they coincide with Eastern European Summer Time in summer.
*  [[Belarus]] is between 23°11′E and 32°47′E and is thus fully within the physical [[UTC+02:00]] area, but it uses [[UTC+03:00]] year around.
*  Practically all [[European Russia]] west of Moscow (except [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]); 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 the westernmost point in European Russia where [[UTC+03:00]] is applied.) This also includes the city of [[Anapa]], at the westernmost tip of the [[Krasnodar Krai]] near the entrance to the Sea of Azov, at 37°22' E.
*  Parts of western [[Syria]], including the capital [[Damascus]]
*  Most of [[Jordan]], including the capital [[Amman]]
*  Western half of [[Turkey]], including the capital [[Ankara]] and the most populous city [[Istanbul]]

=== Tripoints and borders between zones ===
* The Norway–Russia–Finland "tri-zone" point at [[Muotkavaara]] (see [[Central European Time]]) is surrounded by three different times in winter, two in summer. It had three time zones year-around before 2014.
* Two of the four tripoints of [[Belarus]] and the tripoint of the [[Kaliningrad Oblast|Kaliningrad Region]] are surrounded by three different times in winter.

== Major metropolitan areas ==
'''Winter only'''
*[[Athens]], Greece
*[[Beirut]], Lebanon
*[[Brașov]], Romania
*[[Bucharest]], Romania
*[[Chișinău]], Moldova
*[[Cluj-Napoca]], Romania
*[[Constanța]], Romania
*[[Daugavpils]], Latvia
*[[Dnipro]], Ukraine
*[[Gaza City|Gaza]], Palestine
*[[Helsinki]], Finland
*[[Iași]], Romania
*[[Jerusalem]], Israel
*[[Kaunas]], Lithuania
*[[Kharkiv]], Ukraine
*[[Kyiv]], Ukraine
*[[Nicosia]], Cyprus
*[[Odesa]], Ukraine
*[[Oradea]], Romania
*[[Oulu]], Finland
*[[Plovdiv]], Bulgaria
*[[Ramallah]], Palestine
*[[Riga]], Latvia
*[[Sofia]], Bulgaria
*[[Tallinn]], Estonia
*[[Tampere]], Finland
*[[Tel Aviv]], Israel
*[[Thessaloniki]], Greece
*[[Timișoara]], Romania
*[[Turku]], Finland
*[[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]], Bulgaria
*[[Vilnius]], Lithuania

'''Year round'''
*[[Alexandria]], Egypt
*[[Benghazi]], Libya
*[[Cairo]], Egypt
*[[Giza]], Egypt
*[[Kaliningrad]], Russia
*[[Port Said]], Egypt
*[[Tripoli, Libya]] 
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==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Time zones]]
[[Category:Time in Europe]]
[[Category:Geography of Europe]]