Mediation: What is Necessary to Achieve its Success in Spain?

Abstract

This article presents the legal frame of mediation in Spain, especially after the enforcement of Law 5/2012 regarding Mediation in Civil and Commercial Matters. The author analyzes the main causes that might explain why, after four years of enforcement of Law 5/2012, mediation remains a peripheral conflict resolution tool in Spain, a circumstance that has been described by the European Parliament as “The Mediation Paradox”. However, mediation has attracted high levels of attention from both practical and theoretical points of view, maybe because its promotion is closely related to the improvement of access to justice. Mediation is a key European Union policy and one of the main concerns of the current reform agenda in Spain. The article concludes with the presentation of several ideas that might contribute in overcoming this paradoxical scenario, with special focus on what could be done to reverse the situation from a cultural perspective.