A Fate Like Goethe’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Reform Is Pointless Against the Justice System’s Will

Austria’s proposed federal prosecutor’s office has produced an unusual reversal: the justice system once demanded an end to ministerial instructions, but now fears that the proposed replacement could deepen political influence over prosecutors.

The consultation period for the draft ended on Aug. 31 after broad criticism from justice representatives. The government plan would create a commission of justice experts to propose three federal prosecutors. Parliament could then reject a candidate by a simple majority, a threshold any governing coalition could command.

That arrangement has raised concerns that suitable candidates would be screened for political reasons. An applicant who once investigated a politician from a governing party, the editorial says, could be rejected despite having simply done the job.

Politicians, meanwhile, worry about creating a state within a state if the appointment of the country’s senior prosecutors is left entirely to the judiciary. The editorial acknowledges that political oversight can have a legitimate role, since the power to issue instructions is partly intended to promote consistent interpretation of criminal law nationwide.

Its central warning is about party influence. If the three federal prosecutors end up associated with different political parties, the reform could resemble Goethe’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice: the forces summoned would no longer be controllable. In that case, the editorial concludes, changing the plan or abandoning it would be preferable to forcing it through against the justice system’s strongest objections.