What exactly is a Mediation?

For an initial answer, nothing was better than the first sentence of the Mediation Act:

Mediation is a confidential and structured procedure in which the parties voluntarily and independently seek an amicable settlement of their conflict with the help of one or more mediators.

And in order to stick to the definitions, the second sentence is also useful here, which defines the role of the mediator:

A mediator is an independent and neutral person without decision-making authority who leads the parties through the mediation.

Mediation is thus a process at the end of which there is an “amicable settlement” of a conflict.