The Mediation Centre of Catalonia has received one of the most prestigious distinctions in Europe in the field of mediation: the ADR European Awards. This award was recently created by the Mediation Commission of the European Bars Federation (FBE), under the leadership of its president, Carles Garcia Roqueta, lawyer, mediator, and member of the Governing Board of the Barcelona Bar Association. Its purpose is to recognise the most outstanding institutions, projects, and publications in the field of mediation and ADR in Europe.

The Director-General of Law, Legal Entities, and Mediation, Inmaculada Barral, accompanied by the Director of the Mediation Centre of Catalonia, Elisabeth Saltor, received the award on Saturday at the European Federation of Lawyers (FBE) Congress, held from 5 to 7 October in Gdansk, Poland. The event was organised by the European Bar Association and the Gdansk Bar Association.

Barral emphasised the importance of receiving an award of these characteristics. “It is a source of pride for us, as it recognises the Mediation Centre’s track record and its work in promoting and disseminating mediation and other Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods. This work has allowed us to organise a public mediation service that will be significant in the future as one of the priorities of the ministry”. Saltor also expressed her gratitude and stressed that her mission is to “continue to promote projects that help to build a model of society where one of the fundamental pillars is the culture of agreement and dialogue”.

The president of the Mediation Commission of the European Federation of Lawyers, Carles Garcia Roqueta, said that the “jury has valued the significant work carried out by the Mediation Centre of Catalonia to raise awareness of mediation as an efficient alternative dispute resolution method for all areas, as well as its collaboration with professional associations to promote its knowledge among the different professionals who act as mediators” and he added: “We are very pleased because in this first edition of the award, aimed at recognising mediation institutions, different nominations have been received from both public and private institutions from all over Europe”.

The annual conference brings together hundreds of lawyers and legal experts from all over the world and serves as an opportunity to establish links between representatives of European bar associations, maintain in closer dialogues, anddevelop models of cooperation that can lead to positive changes in the European legal market in the future.

The award will be presented annually in one of the categories, and in this first edition, the decision was to award it to an institution. This year, the jury has decided to award this prize to the Mediation Centre of Catalonia, “for its exceptional track record and the organisation’s work in the field of mediation, taking into account the actions and programmes already carried out as well as the planned future lines of action”.

The Mediation Centre of Catalonia is the body of the Ministry of Justice, Rights and Memory, under the Directorate General for Law, Legal Entities and Mediation, which promotes and manages alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including mediation.