On the night of October 29, Moldova switches to the standard or winter time, when Greenwich Mean Time resumes. 3am will become 2am, IPN reports.

In 2014, Russia gave up changing the clocks, while in 2016 Turkey took such a decision. Thus, from October 29 the time in Chisinau will be by one hour back compared with Moscow and Ankara. Now they have the same time. The difference in time between Moldova and other states that are home to many Moldovan migrants will look as follows: Italy, Greece, Spain, and France will be one hour back, the UK will be two hours back, while Israel, Ukraine, and Romania will have the same hour as Moldova. Among the European states, Iceland is the only country that does not change the clocks.

Doctor habilitate Nicolae Enachi, head of the quantic optics and kinetics lab of the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Applied Physics, has told IPN that the clocks are changed in order to motivate the people to rationally use daylight and to reduce the use of artificial light. “We should now save electric power as much as possible. We should learn to be more practical, especially because the Republic of Moldova does not produce energy. The saving of electric power and heat is very important for the Republic of Moldova,” he stated.

The clocks are changed in accordance with the proposal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. For the first time, the switch to summer time was applied by New Zealand in 1895. Moldova started to use this practice in 1979. The time change mechanism in spring and autumn is used in 110 countries.