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The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence.[2][3] About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from finance, industry, labour, education and communications. Meetings are closed to the public.

Origin

The original conference was held at the Hotel de Bilderberg, near Arnhem in the Netherlands, from 29 to 31 May 1954. It was initiated by several people, including Polish politician Józef Retinger, concerned about the growth of anti-Americanism in Western Europe, who proposed an international conference at which leaders from European countries and the United States would be brought together with the aim of promoting Atlanticism – better understanding between the cultures of the United States and Western Europe to foster cooperation on political, economic, and defense issues.^[4] Retinger approached Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands who agreed to promote the idea, together with former Belgian Prime Minister Paul Van Zeeland, and the head of Unilever at that time, Dutchman Paul Rijkens. Bernhard in turn contacted Walter Bedell Smith, then head of the CIA, who asked Eisenhower adviser Charles Douglas Jackson to deal with the suggestion.^[5] The guest list was to be drawn up by inviting two attendees from each nation, one of each to represent conservative and liberal points of view.^[4] Fifty delegates from 11 countries in Western Europe attended the first conference, along with 11 Americans.^[6]

The success of the meeting led the organizers to arrange an annual conference. A permanent Steering Committee was established, with Retinger appointed as permanent secretary. As well as organizing the conference, the steering committee also maintained a register of attendee names and contact details, with the aim of creating an informal network of individuals who could call upon one another in a private capacity.^{[citation needed]} Conferences were held in France, Germany, and Denmark over the following three years. In 1957, the first US conference was held on St. Simons Island, Georgia, with $30,000 from the Ford Foundation. The foundation supplied further funding for the 1959 and 1963 conferences.^[5]

[edit] Role

In his 1980 essay The Bilderberg and the West, researcher Peter Thompson argues that the Bilderberg group is a meeting ground for top executives from the world’s leading multinational corporations and top national political figures to consider jointly the immediate and long-term problems facing the West. According to Thompson, Bilderberg itself is not an executive agency, but when Bilderberg participants reach a form of consensus about what is to be done they have at their disposal powerful transnational and national instruments for bringing about what it is they want to come to pass. That their consensus design is not always achieved, he concludes, is a reflection of the strength of competing resisting forces outside the capitalist ruling class and within it.^[7]

[edit] Organizational structure

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld in 1942

Meetings are organized by a steering committee with two members from each of approximately 18 nations.^[8] Official posts, in addition to a chairman, include an Honorary Secretary General.^[9] There is no such category in the group's rules as a "member of the group". The only category that exists is "member of the Steering Committee".^[10] In addition to the committee, there also exists a separate advisory group, though membership overlaps.^[11]

Dutch economist Ernst van der Beugel became permanent secretary in 1960, upon Retinger's death. Prince Bernhard continued to serve as the meeting's chairman until 1976, the year of his involvement in the Lockheed affair. The position of Honorary American Secretary General has been held successively by Joseph E. Johnson of the Carnegie Endowment, William Bundy of Princeton, Theodore L. Eliot, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, and Casimir A. Yost of Georgetown's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.^[12]

A 2008 press release from the 'American Friends of Bilderberg' stated that "Bilderberg's only activity is its annual Conference. At the meetings, no resolutions are proposed, no votes taken, and no policy statements issued" and noted that the names of attendees were available to the press.^[13] The Bilderberg group's unofficial headquarters is the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.^[14]

According to the 'American Friends of Bilderberg', the 2008 agenda dealt "mainly with a nuclear free world, cyber terrorism, Africa, Russia, finance, protectionism, US-EU relations, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Islam and Iran".^[13]

[edit] Chairmen of the Steering Committee

• Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1954–1975)^[15]


• Walter Scheel (1975–1977)^[6]


• Alec Douglas-Home (1977–1980)^[15]


• Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden (1986–1989)^[16]


• Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington (1990–1998)^[6]


• Étienne Davignon (1998–2001)^[8]


• Henri de Castries (since 2001)

[edit] Participants

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke leaving the 2008 Bilderberg Conference

Historically, attendee lists have been weighted towards bankers, politicians, and directors of large businesses.

Heads of state, including Juan Carlos I of Spain and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, have attended meetings. Prominent politicians from North America and Europe are past attendees. In past years, board members from many large publicly traded corporations have attended, including IBM, Xerox, Royal Dutch Shell, Nokia and Daimler.

The 2009 meeting participants in Greece included: Greek prime minister Kostas Karamanlis; Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen;Sweden foreign minister Carl Bildt; United States Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg; U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; World Bank president Robert Zoellick; European Commission head José Manuel Barroso; Queen Sofia of Spain; and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

In 2009 the group hosted a dinner meeting at Castle of the Valley of the Duchess in Brussels on 12 November to promote the candidacy of Herman Van Rompuy for President of the European Council.

The membership of the Bilderberg group is drawn largely from West European and North American countries. Journalist Caroline Moorehead in a 1977 article critical of the Bilderberg group's membership, quoted an unnamed member of the group: "No invitations go out to representatives of the developing countries. 'Otherwise you simply turn us into a mini-United-Nations,' said one person. And, 'we are looking for like-thinking people and compatible people. It would be worse to have a club of dopes.'" In her article, Moorehead characterized the group as "heavily biased towards politics of moderate conservatism and big business" and claims that the "farthest left is represented by a scattering of central social democrats".

It's a group of very rich and influential people who meet once a year in Sweden to decide how the world, and especially, how the U.S. should be run. It was started by Joseph _______ ( forgot his last name). He is actually Polish. Some people say 3 of the members of this group are  Prince Phillip, the Emporer of Japan, and the 1st George Bush .