Bulgaria Could Save EUR 700 M through Mediation in Civil, Commercial Disputes - EP

Bulgaria could save around EUR 700 M through mediation in civil and commercial matters, provided that 50% of the cases are settled through the method, according to a survey of the European Parliament.

EU Member States would save a total of EUR 20-40 B through mediation, according to the survey, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio.

Despite the optimistic estimates of savings, mediation services are used in only 0.05% of all civil and commercial disputes in the EU.

Sevdelina Alexandrova, Deputy Chair of the Center for Dispute Resolution, announced in a Tuesday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio that Bulgaria had to amend its legislation in order to pave the way for savings worth millions through mediation.

She said that the Justice Ministry was working actively on the matter, adding that a working group had been established to draft legal amendments.

Alexandrova declared that although mediators and judges had been trying to promote mediation for years, the number of cases in which these services were used would not increase substantially without legislative changes.

She pointed out that Bulgarian legislation had to be amended to include the provision that in certain types of disputes, which were yet to be specified, all sides had to meet once and try to solve the dispute through mediation.