There is a general trend in Europe towards the Public Prosecution Services (PPS) becoming the key player in the criminal justice system. Parallel to this increasing PPS power a partial transfer of competencies to the police level takes place. There is almost no country in Europe which follows the principles of legality and mandatory prosecution without any exception. Nowhere are all criminal offenders prosecuted in order to be convicted by a court. Mostly one finds either diversion from the criminal justice system or discretion at police and/or prosecution service level. Therefore, an isolated comparison of the specific prosecution service discretionary powers in any two countries is deceptive because it ignores the different input to this level, the varying impact of the powers, and any possible functional equivalents. In summary, criminal justice systems in Europe present complex structures that tend to cope with a high workload by finding ways for diversion, creating vents at police and prosecution level, and establishing simplified and shortcutting procedures. The range and nature of case-ending decisions falling into the mandate of PPS differs from country to country. They have to be evaluated in the whole context of equivalent forms of diversionary and discretionary strategies in the respective European countries. This article is concerned with the decisive role of the public prosecutor regarding diversion, discretion, and sanctioning within the European criminal justice system. Tables and references