EU Commission to stay on past November: Sweden

(STOCKHOLM) - The EU Lisbon Treaty will only enter into force after the European Commission's mandate ends in November, meaning the current commission will stay on for an undetermined period, the Swedish EU presidency said Saturday.

"With what we know as of today, it is probably not possible to have the Lisbon Treaty in force by November 1. This means that I need to prepare for... (EU foreign policy chief) Javier Solana and the current commission to stay on for some time. For how long I don't know," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told AFP in an interview.

Ireland's approval in a referendum Friday of the treaty, aimed at streamlining decision-making in the 27-nation bloc, was "an essential step" toward getting the document in place, he said.

The treaty must be ratified by all EU member states before entering into force, and Poland and the Czech Republic have yet to do so.

A group of 17 Czech senators have filed a complaint against the treaty with the country's Constitutional Court, which is expected to announce a date for its ruling within three weeks.

Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Saturday ratification was "not on the cards" pending the court's decision.

Reinfeldt said the Czech situation could lead to a delay of several weeks or even months for the Lisbon Treaty.

He noted that if the Czech court decided to study the complaint, the procedure could take "at least three months," by which time the Swedish presidency would be finished.

Sweden holds the EU presidency until the end of December, and had in June said it hoped to have the new treaty in place by early November.

Irish voters backed the treaty by 67.13 percent in favour compared to 32.87 percent against, according to final results.