Krasimira Filipova, a prosecutor at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office, said she is ready to help solve the problems that have piled up at the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). She spoke at a hearing for candidates for the council from the prosecutors' quota.

Filipova said efforts must unite now more than ever, and that decisions must be made openly and in line with the law and justice. She presented a plan with priorities: protecting the independence of the judiciary, budget independence, better staffing policy at the SJC and a lasting pay model for judges and prosecutors.

The candidate said the law is currently being trampled, nobody takes responsibility or admits mistakes, rank-and-file judges and prosecutors are isolated, and their daily work stays far from those in charge. Power is put on show and election results are known in advance, she said. Filipova added that more and more people see that flaws in the law and other objective factors are not the root of the council's decisions.

Filipova said the limit of patience has been reached. The only way out, she said, is an SJC that ends the bad practices of the current one, resists outside influence and wins back trust in the council.

Filipova urged real guarantees of protection for judges and prosecutors, including the right to turn directly to the council without needless formalities. Independence is not secured by strategies and rules alone, she said. It takes a timely and active response to every attempt to pressure judges and prosecutors or to damage the standing of the judiciary.

The SJC must respond openly and consistently, whatever the source of the attack, she said. As examples, she named actions by representatives of the legislature or the government, public statements by politicians and the spread of false claims. Every council member must defend independence, and silently ignoring such cases is unacceptable. Filipova said the SJC will defend the judiciary convincingly only if there are no doubts about its own independence.

She wants a predictable pay model that does not link pay in the judiciary to pay in the legislature or the government. She backs higher pay for judges and prosecutors at district and regional level, but not at the price of cutting or freezing pay for senior posts.