ABSTRACT
The 1992 Treaty on European Union (TEU) stipulated that the European Community (EC) shares competence in development cooperation with the Member States. Neither the Maastricht Treaty, ratified in 1993, nor the Amsterdam Treaty, ratified in 1998, defined the division of competencies between the EC and the Member States. Consequently, the division of responsibilities between the EC as a whole, the European Commission as the executive body of the EC, and the Member States is a political matter rather than a legal one. 2
