Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- Urgent work must be done on the appointment of a new public prosecutor for the Brussels public prosecutor’s office, even if this requires a change in the law. This is what Brussels Attorney General Johan Delmulle said in his speech on the occasion of the opening of the new judicial year, said BRUZZ.
The previous French-speaking public prosecutor of Brussels, Jean-Marc Meilleur, terminated his mandate on 1 April 2021 and moved to the private sector. Since then, he has been replaced by his Dutch-speaking deputy.
In his mercurial of last year, Attorney General Delmulle already pointed out that this vacancy had to be filled urgently, even if, after a judgement of the Constitutional Court of June 30, 2014, a change in the law was necessary. With that judgement, the Constitutional Court annulled the legal provision that required the Public Prosecutor and the Labour Prosecutor of Brussels to belong to the French language role, and the Prosecutor General proposed to provide for a language alternative for the successive Public Prosecutors and Labour Prosecutors of Brussels. After all, the mandate of the current labour prosecutor will also end soon, on April 15, 2023.
“My question was indeed picked up by the Minister of Justice,” says Attorney General Delmulle. “However, today we are exactly one year further and without any concrete result. It seems that the file in the lap of the government, what is commonly called, has been ‘blocked’.”
“So I am here forced to reiterate my request publicly that urgent action be taken on this,” the Attorney General continued. “It is absolutely irresponsible that the largest and most important public prosecutor’s office in the country has been operating for a year and a half now without a chief of police nominated and appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council and that the government de facto ignores a judgement of the Constitutional Court. I am therefore now looking to parliament to take its own legislative initiative in this regard.”
