(de-news.net) – Germany’s Federal Prosecutor-General and senior prosecutors have called for greater independence from justice ministries, arguing that ministerial instruction powers in individual cases may undermine prosecutorial neutrality. Critics, including the German Judges Association, point to the antiquated legal basis of these provisions and note that many European countries have limited or abolished comparable mechanisms.
The Prosecutor General, together with Germany’s chief public prosecutors, has called for a significant strengthening of institutional autonomy vis-à-vis the country’s justice ministries. In a joint position articulated in a statement issued through the Hamburg Public Prosecutor’s Office, they argued that the existing framework—allowing justice ministers to issue directives and intervene in specific criminal cases without narrowly defined and transparent conditions—creates a structural tension with the prosecutors’ mandate to guarantee impartial and independent criminal investigations. This concern, as framed by the prosecutorial leadership, centers on the risk that executive influence, even if rarely exercised in practice, may undermine both the appearance and the substantive integrity of prosecutorial neutrality within the criminal justice system. The legal basis for the ministerial right of instruction is enshrined in Germany’s Courts Constitution Act, which formally grants justice ministers supervisory authority over public prosecutors. However, this arrangement has become an increasingly prominent subject of legal and institutional debate.
German judges warn of erosion of trust in criminal justice system
The German Judges Association had already argued in the previous year that the relevant statutory provisions largely originate from the eighteenth century and therefore reflect an institutional design that predates modern standards of judicial independence. In its assessment, such historically rooted regulations may no longer align with contemporary expectations of a separation between political authority and prosecutorial decision-making, and could thereby erode public trust in the perceived objectivity and neutrality of criminal justice proceedings.
In comparative perspective, the Judges Association further emphasized that a majority of Germany’s neighboring European states have either never adopted comparable ministerial powers over individual prosecutorial decisions or have since abolished such mechanisms in at least certain categories of criminal proceedings. This divergence, it suggested, highlights a broader European trend toward insulating prosecutorial functions from direct political instruction in order to reinforce institutional independence and safeguard confidence in rule-of-law standards. Against this backdrop, the German debate reflects a growing tension between historically embedded supervisory structures and evolving norms of prosecutorial autonomy within European legal systems.
