The Great Mediation debate organized by Mediator Academy on 25.11.2021 proved to be a lot of fun. We saw a playful, moot-court competition-like discussion with dynamic moderation.
What was most interesting to me was that in countries with an Anglo-Saxon tradition far ahead of us (us meaning Luxembourg and Hungary) in terms of mediation, the question really is no longer whether it should be mandatory to inform the parties about the possibility of mediation, but whether it should be mandatory for them to participate in it.
The two main arguments can be condensed into two apt pictorial parables.
Opponents of mandatory mediation have referred to the story of the “goose that lays golden eggs”: if we cut up the goose to gain direct access to the gold, we may prove to be greedy and even our (maybe less, but) regular gold output could be lost.
Proponents of mandatory mediation used the example of seat belts: when it became mandatory, no one was happy, many opposed it, but then very quickly understood its benefits and now no one would want to sit in a car without it …
SPOILER ALERT:
In the end, the audience voted with 53 yes, 40 no, and 7 abstentions to mandatory mediation: after all, if we never try it out, we might never know that it might even turn out well. :)
The recording can be viewed here: