This book is an introduction to the current and prospective European mediation practice after the recent issuing of the New Mediation Directive. It is the outcome of an international congress that was being held in October 2008, in Brussels. The book introduces the reader to the rise of the European pro-mediation idea and the characteristics of the New Mediation Directive, with the Directive itself being assessed more critically. It examines how the training of mediators - one of the key rules of the New Mediation Directive - should be implemented into the European education practice of mediators. It discusses the task and possibilities of judges to invite parties to participate in mediation. It also provides some comparative discussions of how European mediation can be improved by looking at some American mediation issues, and it demonstrates how far Chinese mediation perspectives can be reconciled with the current European mediation philosophy.