Lord Bruce of Doningtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will state the difference between the authentic English translation of the Maastricht Treaty as signed on 7th February 1992 and the version published immediately following the inter-governmental conference in December 1991.
The Earl of CaithnessThe text as signed differs from that made available to Parliament immediately after Maastricht only in the following respects: the separate texts on Economic and Monetary Union and Political Union have been amalgamated and their articles renumbered; minor changes in the text have been made to ensure internal consistency with the Treaty of Rome; a non-justiciable preamble has been added; and a Treaty article (138a) on the role of European political parties has been inserted, following a declaration to that effect at Maastricht.