Madrid is the revelation international capital in the field of arbitration or conflict resolution, according to the main protagonists of the world and it has become clear with the celebration of the VIII Edition of the Open. The promotion of Madrid as the seat of the Arbitration is essential, in fact, to continue promoting the role of the capital as the fourth financial center in Europe (after London, Paris and Frankfurt), according to Javier Íscar, the architect of the Open, claiming that, pending the closing of the international event.
Enrique López, Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Interior of the Community of Madrid has endorsed this arbitration capital of Madrid at the closing of the Open. "We are all working so that Madrid has the same importance in the world of arbitration as Paris, London or Miami", explained the Minister. Capital status that corresponds to it because we are a strategic axis with Latin America, with the link of the Castilian language. Thus for having important companies and multinationals that are investing in those countries.
The Madrid Arbitration Open has analyzed during the course of the day the situation of instability and conflict that the world is experiencing after the pandemic and that has been greatly increased by the War in Ukraine. Analysis that has been especially acute in the final panel of speakers, "The impact on arbitration of the supply and price crisis", moderated by Carlos Salinas, partner at MA Abogados. This is how the lawyer explained it: “there are cases of companies that want to triple the prices of the agreed raw materials, but there are companies that have to face construction contracts with a price closed to the signature”.
The War in Ukraine is going to cause a clash of conflicts in the world even greater than the pandemic, according to Sonia Gumpert Partner at Monereo Meyer Abogados. Wave that has been called a tsunami and will affect more than 150 countries. The lawyer considered that the cases that reach the Courts of Arbitration of the main countries of the world increased by 20 percent. A situation in which arbitration should help ensure that the damage caused to companies is as little as possible, according to Gumper.
The situation is extremely delicate, as the speakers have agreed, and it will affect all economic sectors. Although the contracts signed after the pandemic already foresaw catastrophic situations, the new moment is complex and makes it advisable to come to terms, according to Alejandro Alonso, Partner at Ceca Magán (Spain). Tendency to seek the agreement that is being the majority in the business sector, according to all the experts.
In this situation, the role of the experts is going to be fundamental and they will have to tread very finely, according to Ana Jiménez, Partner at Auren. The expert report is going to be very important. Analyzing, for example, what the expectations were when the contract was deactivated or reviewing the historical evolution of the price of raw materials, according to Jiménez.
In this case of the Ukraine War, it will be difficult to apply the unpredictability or Rebus clause, as explained by the expert Antonio Gómez, Managing Partner at GPartners. Especially in the contracts signed since the beginning of 2020, since there were already conflict rates in the area. Regarding the price of raw materials, they also began to suffer in 2020. The important thing will be to measure the effects of the current situation on the total duration of the contract, since the initial abrupt impact softens over time.
Be that as it may, all the experts have agreed that the wave of conflict that comes with the Ukraine War is going to be tougher and more difficult than that of the pandemic. A future scenario that will be analyzed in the 2023 Arbitration Open.
The Arbitration Open is organized by the European Arbitration Association and its 2022 edition has broken a record: 21 Debate Tables with almost 100 speakers, almost half a thousand face-to-face registrations and more than 1500 connections on the streaming platform. A success that anticipates a brilliant 2023 Edition.
