With the clocks changing last Sunday, Lisbon has informed Brussels that it intends to keep to the current format.
The European Commission recently proposed that member states ditch daylight savings time after a survey found 84 percent of almost five million Europeans want to stop changing the clocks.
Under current proposals, March 2019 will be the final mandatory change, but EU governments have now called for time to debate a proposal to eliminate the twice-yearly clock change.
Austria, who currently hold the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, said there had been wide backing for a permanent change to winter or summer time that should take place in 2021, especially as the airline industry had indicated it would need 18 months to introduce the change.
Austria has recommended that daylight saving time be eliminated altogether, saying several studies show that clock changes have negative effects on people and animals and have failed to achieve the original idea of saving energy.
Currently, Portugal, Britain and Greece are the only countries to have come out against eliminating daylight saving time.