“In my opinion this would be an appropriate instrument to find out which stores are following the law,” she told the paper, adding that other European countries like Switzerland and Sweden have had positive results from similar programmes. The test shoppers would try their luck at gas station, kiosks and supermarkets.

“We have no shortage of laws,” she said, “just a shortage of enforcement of the law,” she said.

Last year Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen had to back down from a similar plan to employ teens starting at age 14 for a similar alcohol law enforcement program. But Bätzing’s program would use 16 to 17-year-old students accompanied by adults who stayed in the background, she said.