Bilderberg Topics and Attendees for 2018 Meeting

The 66th meeting of the secretive Bilderberg Group will take place in Turin, Italy from June 7 through June 10, just a few days from now. What will they be talking about behind those closed doors? Who will be doing the talking? Despite the fact that government representatives and members of the press will be invited, the regular people of the world who’s lives may be impacted won’t have access to any details (see more on the Bilderberg Meetings below). But, they have been gracious enough to throw us some crumbs by publishing the list of topics and attendees ahead of the meeting. I’ve put in bold some of the items that caught my eye.

Bilderberg 2018 Official Topics

1. Populism in Europe
2. The inequality challenge
3. The future of work
4. Artificial intelligence
5. The US before midterms
6. Free trade
7. US world leadership
8. Russia
9. Quantum computing
10. Saudi Arabia and Iran
11. The “post-truth” world
12. Current events

Who is on the list?

According to the official Bilderberg Meetings website, “a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media has been invited.” Are any political leaders or experts from your neck of the woods attending? Here are some of the highlights from the list of attendees.

As ever, a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media has been invited.

Government Officials

• Anglade, Dominique (CAN), Deputy Premier of Quebec; Minister of Economy, Science and Innovation
• Baker, James H. (USA), Director, Office of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense
• Barroso, José M. Durão (PRT), Chairman, Goldman Sachs International; Former President, European Commission
• Berx, Cathy (BEL), Governor, Province of Antwerp
• Blanquer, Jean-Michel (FRA), Minister of National Education, Youth and Community Life
• Brende, Børge (INT), President, World Economic Forum
• Brennan, Eamonn (IRL), Director General, Eurocontrol
• Brnabic, Ana (SRB), Prime Minister
• Carney, Mark J. (GBR), Governor, Bank of England
• Cazeneuve, Bernard (FRA), Partner, August Debouzy; Former Prime Minister
• Champagne, François-Philippe (CAN), Minister of International Trade
• Donohoe, Paschal (IRL), Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
• Ecker, Andrea (AUT), Secretary General, Office Federal President of Austria
• Émié, Bernard (FRA), Director General, Ministry of the Armed Forces
• Fischer, Stanley (USA), Former Vice-Chairman, Federal Reserve; Former Governor, Bank of Israel
• Hedegaard, Connie (DNK), Chair, KR Foundation; Former European Commissioner
• Hickenlooper, John (USA), Governor of Colorado
• Kaag, Sigrid (NLD), Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
• Kissinger, Henry A. (USA), Chairman, Kissinger Associates Inc., former U.S. Secretary of State
• Leyen, Ursula von der (DEU), Federal Minster of Defence
• Michel, Charles (BEL), Prime Minister
• Mitsotakis, Kyriakos (GRC), President, New Democracy Party
• Netherlands, H.M. the King of the (NLD)
• Oettinger, Günther H. (INT), Commissioner for Budget & Human Resources, European Commission
• Parolin, H.E. Pietro (VAT), Cardinal and Secretary of State
• Petraeus, David H. (USA), Chairman, KKR Global Institute
• Ratas, Jüri (EST), Prime Minister
• Rendi-Wagner, Pamela (AUT), MP (SPÖ); Former Minister of Health
• Rivera Díaz, Albert (ESP), President, Ciudadanos Party
• Rossi, Salvatore (ITA), Senior Deputy Governor, Bank of Italy
• Rubin, Robert E. (USA), Co-Chairman Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations; Former U.S. Treasury Secretary
• Rudd, Amber (GBR), MP; Former Secretary of State, Home Department
• Rutte, Mark (NLD), Prime Minister
• Sáenz de Santamaría, Soraya (ESP), Deputy Prime Minister
• Schadlow, Nadia (USA), Former Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor for Strategy
• Schneider-Ammann, Johann N. (CHE), Federal Councillor
• Sikorski, Radoslaw (POL), Senior Fellow, Harvard University; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Poland
• Simsek, Mehmet (TUR), Deputy Prime Minister
• Stoltenberg, Jens (INT), Secretary General, NATO
• Turpin, Matthew (USA), Director for China, National Security Council

Press and Media

• Caracciolo, Lucio (ITA), Editor-in-Chief, Limes [reminder, the meeting is taking place in Italy this year]
• Cook, Charles (USA), Political Analyst, The Cook Political Report
• Fallows, James (USA), Writer and Journalist
• Gruber, Lilli (ITA), Editor-in-Chief and Anchor “Otto e mezzo”, La7 TV [reminder, the meeting is taking place in Italy this year]
• Micklethwait, John (USA), Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg LP
• Minton Beddoes, Zanny (GBR), Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
• Moyo, Dambisa F. (USA), Global Economist and Author
• Noonan, Peggy (USA), Author and Columnist, The Wall Street Journal
• Osborne, George (GBR), Editor, London Evening Standard
• Patino, Bruno (FRA), Chief Content Officer, Arte France TV
• Skartveit, Hanne (NOR), Political Editor, Verdens Gang
• Yetkin, Murat (TUR), Editor-in-chief, Hürriyet Daily News
• Zeiler, Gerhard (AUT), President, Turner International

Banking

• Achleitner, Paul M. (DEU), Chairman Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG; Treasurer, Foundation Bilderberg Meetings
• Barroso, José M. Durão (PRT), Chairman, Goldman Sachs International; Former President, European Commission
• Botín, Ana P. (ESP), Group Executive Chairman, Banco Santander
• Ferguson, Jr., Roger W. (USA), President and CEO, TIAA
• Knot, Klaas H.W. (NLD), President, De Nederlandsche Bank
• Wallenberg, Marcus (SWE), Chairman, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB

Other attendees worth mentioning

• Azoulay, Audrey (INT), Director-General, UNESCO
• Beurden, Ben van (NLD), CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc
• Burns, William J. (USA), President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Burwell, Sylvia M. (USA), President, American University
• Cohen, Jared (USA), Founder and CEO, Jigsaw at Alphabet Inc. [Alphabet Inc. is the parent-company that Google gave birth to]
• Colao, Vittorio (ITA), CEO, Vodafone Group
• Dagdeviren, Canan (TUR), Assistant Professor, MIT Media Lab
• Elkann, John (ITA), Chairman, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
• Enders, Thomas (DEU), CEO, Airbus SE
• Gilvary, Brian (GBR), Group CFO, BP plc
• Hassabis, Demis (GBR), Co-Founder and CEO, DeepMind [also a part of Alphabet, Inc.]

About Bilderberg

Every year, between 120-150 political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media are invited to take part in the meeting. About two thirds of the participants come from Europe and the rest from North America. One third of the invitees “are from politics and government and the rest from other fields”. The meeting is a forum for informal discussions about megatrends and major issues facing the world. All of this is according to the official website of the organization (links below).

The meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which states that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) nor of any other participant may be revealed.

Despite the involvement of participants from the political arena, what takes place in the meetings are kept secret. As stated on the Bilderberg website, “[t]he meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which states that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) nor of any other participant may be revealed.” The justification provided is that the “private nature” of the meetings frees the participants from the the “conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions”, thus allowing them to take time to listen, reflect and gather insights.

Therefore, the press is prohibited from the meeting, with the exception of those members of the media who are invited to participate. Then, however, they would be restricted by the Chatham House Rule from ever reporting, or otherwise revealing, what transpires at this secretive meeting of political and industrial leaders. Therefore creating a conflict for, or at least calling into question the reliability and trustworthiness of, any member of the media invited to participate. Has anyone from from your favorite news sources been invited?

Has anyone from your government?

Related:

• Secretive Bilderberg Group Set to Meet Amid Italian Turmoil, May 29, 2018
• The Hegelian Dialectic, January 7, 2017

Resource Links:

• Bilderberg Meeting 2018, Bilderberg Meetings Official Website [Press release], June 5, 2018
• Bilderberg 2018 image credit: PoliticalNewsReport.com