In this article Huub Sprangers describes the development of the Dutch Mediatorsfederation, which started its activities at the end of 2013. Several pre-existing Dutch mediation organisations cooperate in this new federation.

Mediation is not very popular (yet) in the Dutch private sector. The author used his own network of business relations to investigate the motives not to choose mediation in solving business conflicts. Entrepreneurs and managers recognize mediation as a suitable method to solve personal conflicts like in family and community mediation. In business conflicts however, parties try not to get too personally involved and to keep feelings and emotions away from the negotiations. This investigation made clear that the timing of the conflict management process is a crucial factor in the unpopularity of mediation. The moment to choose a suitable method for dispute resolution is when the entrepreneur or manager failed to solve the dispute together with the other party. At this stage the competences of the mediator are competing with those of the entrepreneur/manager and therefore the choice for mediation is not very likely. This can only be changed by the introduction of dispute consultancy earlier in the process. Also the promotion of the traditional values and benefits of mediation does not seem to match the desires of most of the entrepreneurs and managers. Mediators might invest in pilots with companies to create opportunities for conflict consultancy and the introduction of a dispute analysis as early as possible in the process.

A new law that reforms the Belgian Council of State accomplishes better coordination between the treatment of complaints by ombudsmen and the proceedings before the Council of State. The term to initiate a proceeding is suspended by a complaint to an ombudsman.

Giuseppe De Palo and Romina Canessa give a description of the recent publication of a study conducted for the European Parliament on Mediation, ‘Rebooting the Mediation Directive: Assessing the Limited Impact of its Implementation and Proposing Measures to Increase the Number of Mediations in the EU’, has contributed to the ongoing debate about effective mediation policy. The Study concluded that despite an increase in mediation awareness and the proven benefits it can have, mediation still remains largely unused as a method of dispute resolution.

Nicola Giudice wrote an article about the Italian model about mediation, especially about mandatory mediation. The Italian model is an interesting lab for European countries. The article focuses on the role of Italian Government in the evolution of the mediation system.

The organisation bMediation set up in September 2012 a survey into the activities of mediators in Belgium, because there were no statistics of mediation in Belgium. One of the conclusions of the suvey are that most Belgian mediators are women and that mediators in Belgium are not in a position to carry out their mediation work as a full time profession.

Based on an actual mediation the article makes it clear that a mediator should remain in its own professional role and stay away from the legal aspects of the solution. The mediator should leave this to other professional experts.The case describes a seemingly simple mediation-referral from the Court, but concealing a multitude of interrelated business and private conflicts, all with legal and emotional aspects. A judgment by the Court on just one of the issues would never end the real conflicts between parties. A facilitating mediation approach brings an unexpectedly large number of these emotional and legal issues into the open, all solved in some twenty mediation sessions.