Which would be odd, if true (haven't heard anything like that from my French colleagues). As France is in the same time zone as Germany, even outside of DST, it

Which would be odd, if true (haven't heard anything like that from my French colleagues). As France is in the same time zone as Germany, even outside of DST, it is basically in a zone of permanent DST. When in DST, it is shifted 2 hours versus the sun position. Actually the true noon for the non-DST middle European time zone is at the eastern border of Germany. So whole Germany and France are "ahead" of the time even without DST.