Until the new passports are issued, the European Commission has urged the British Government to issue  stickers quoting the article and to encourage people to attach them to their existing passports.

Foreign Office officials welcomed the addition of the treaty quote, which featured in legislation published in Brussels last week, “as a good way to keep British nationals informed’’. They are exploring the issue of interim stickers.

But Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “Once again the EU is desperate to muscle in on passports. Our Government should remind them that British passports are still primarily Britain’s business.

“The danger is that this is part of a broader Brussels agenda to extend control over how people are looked after abroad. Now it’s passports. Next could be visas and embassies.’’

The treaty quote will appear  beside the traditional declaration: “Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.’’

The EU declaration will state that “every citizen of the Union shall, in the territory of a third country in which the member’s state of which he is a national is not represented, be entitled to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of any Member State, on the same condition as the nationals of that state’’.

A spokesman for the European Commission said the statement would make EU nationals more aware of their rights abroad.

Critics of Brussels fear EU bureaucrats wish to extend Europe’s reach.

A new diplomatic corps is being established under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty and the Commission may set up EU consulates outside Europe to carry out consular work for smaller EU states.