'Public Ministry'; MP) is the body of the Judiciary of Portugal responsible for the public prosecution and the representation of the State before the courts.

It is an hierarchic organized body, composed of magistrates and headed by the Procurador-Geral da República (attorney-general of the Republic).

The PGR is the only magistrate of the Public Prosecution Service that is politically designated, being proposed by the Government and appointed by the President of the Republic for six years in office.

The attorneys of the Public Prosecution Service are magistrates as the judges, but constitute a parallel and independent body from the Portuguese Judicial Magistracy.

Regarding the Vice-Procurador-Geral da República (vice-attorney-general), he or she is a magistrate with mandatory origin in the Public Prosecution Service career magistracy.