The present application is directed to an electrical converter having at least one of an active rectifier and an inverter interconnecting an electrical source with an electrical load. A method for controlling the electrical converter includes receiving at least one estimated control variable, receiving at least one outer loop control variable provided by an outer control loop and determining a control region based on a control error and selecting control parameters based on the control region. The control method then predicts at least one reference control value based on a solution of a physical model of the electrical converter. The solution is based on a constraint that minimizes a difference between the at least one estimated control variable and the at least one outer loop control variable. The control method then determines switching states of the electrical converter based on the reference control value.