Judgment_paragraph 21 · Regione Siciliana v Commission of the European Communities (C-417/04 P)

21In that respect, it is sufficient to point out that the Court has already held that an action by a local or regional entity cannot be treated in the same way as an action by a Member State, the term Member State within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 230 EC referring only to government authorities of the Member States. That term cannot include the governments of regions or other local authorities within Member States without undermining the institutional balance provided for by the Treaty (order in Case C-180/97 Regione Toscana v Commission [1997] ECR I-5245, paragraphs 6 and 8, and Case C-452/98 Nederlandse Antillen v Council [2001] ECR I-8973, paragraph 50).