• The European Insolvency Practitioners Association (EIP) participated yesterday in the first European Congress on Second Chance organised by the Barcelona Bar Association (ICAB).
• Béatrice Dunogué-Gaffié, President of the EIP, underlined the danger of the debtor being left without the professional support of the insolvency practitioner.

Barcelona, 23 November 2021. The most prominent professionals in the insolvency sector in Europe met yesterday at the first "European Congress on Second Chance" organised by the Barcelona Bar Association (ICAB). Among other relevant figures, the institutional opening was led by the First Vice-President of the Government, Nadia Calviño; as well as the participation of the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, the President of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, Victoria Ortega, and the President of CICAC and Dean of the ICAB, Maria Eugènia Gay.

The meeting focused on the Draft Bill for the Transposition of the European Directive 2019/1023, which has caused controversy in Spain since its approval in August of this year. One of the points that has given rise to most criticism from the different parties involved in insolvency proceedings is the special procedure for micro-SMEs, included in the Third Book of the Draft Bill.

In view of the above, the Congress dedicated a legal round table to address the challenges and proposals on this measure, which was led by Yvonne Pavía Lalauze, Member of the Governing Board of the Barcelona Bar Association, with the participation of Ana Belén Campuzano Laguillo, Professor of Commercial Law at the San Pablo-CEU University, José María Fernández Seijo, Magistrate of the 15th Section of the Barcelona Provincial Court, and Béatrice Dunogué-Gaffié, President of the European Insolvency Practitioners Association.

Both Pavía and Campuzano concurred in emphasising the work of lawyers and insolvency practitioners, in contrast to Fernández's doubts about their usefulness. Dunogué-Gaffié contributed the vision of European insolvency practitioners, expressing surprise at the questioning of the work of these professionals in insolvency proceedings, a key figure in ensuring impartiality in these processes.

The president of the EIP regretted that the Draft Bill proposed to leave such necessary figures out of the process, arguing that the debtor would be left helpless. She pointed out that, in most cases of micro-SMEs, entrepreneurs do not have sufficient knowledge of the legal framework and insolvency to be able to manage their situation.

Dunogué-Gaffié insisted on the need to provide this professional support through profiles that can provide a true picture of the state of the companies, that are impartial and fair. "This does not mean", she stressed, "that the insolvency administrator is against the debtor, as is often wrongly understood, but that we have the knowledge, experience and neutrality to be objective and see the true picture of a company's solvency".

Contrary to the idea that eliminating the insolvency administrator would mean cost savings, the president of the EIP stressed that if what we are looking for is efficiency, having a professional is key to see whether a company is viable or not, since "insolvency practitioners are the experts in the field, they can streamline the processes and know the necessary tools in each case".

Dunogué-Gaffié concluded her speech by pointing out that in France they have a specific profession entirely dedicated to insolvency cases, since, in her words, "it doesn't matter how good the law is. If you don't have the right person to implement it, it will become nothing.

About EIP

The European Insolvency Practitioners Association (EIP), created in 2016 and based in Brussels, is a self-financing independent association formed by 14 European Insolvency Practitioners Organisations (IPO), almost 4.500 individual Insolvency Practitioners and with presence in more than 12 European countries. Its creation was powered by a firm belief in the importance of improving restructuring and insolvency proceedings and their efficiency across Europe, the key role of court appointed Insolvency Practitioners in making insolvency proceedings efficient and fair. In short, for the importance of creating a label that guarantees the quality and good practice of Insolvency Practitioners. EIP represents reputable Insolvency Practitioners from EU member states, who devote at least a significant part of their activity to insolvency-related work.

Contact

Patricia Vizcaíno / patricia.vizcaino@newlink-group.com

Guillermo de Santiago / Guillermo.desantiago@newlink-group.com

+34 651 96 34 03