(Zero Hedge)—Bilderberg’s 71st meeting kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden Thursday, where global elites convened behind closed doors amid tensions across Europe and the Middle East, and against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s assault on their favorite thing of all time; globalism. The shadowy group, which was founded in 1954, infamously bans media and enforces a code of silence, fueling concerns of hidden agendas and backroom deals shaping the world’s future.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will address the EU’s “competitiveness” and his country’s support for Ukraine against Russia, his spokesperson told Reuters. Transatlantic relations lead the agenda, with Ukraine, critical raw materials, and AI also slated for discussion, according to documents viewed by Reuters.
Unlike similar events, such as the World Economic Forum’s annual get-together in Davos, Switzerland, no media are invited to cover what goes on during the meeting, and attendees themselves tend to remain tight-lipped about what has been said behind the conference’s closed doors. the Epoch Times notes.
Among the topics scheduled for discussion are Trans-Atlantic relations, the Russia–Ukraine war, the U.S. economy, artificial intelligence, depopulation and migration, the “Authoritarian Axis,” and the geopolitics of energy and critical minerals.
There is limited other information about the event as the meetings are held under the “Chatham House Rule,“ named after the international affairs think tank in London, which states: ”When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
The organizers say that this privacy allows participants to take part as individuals rather than in their official capacities, meaning they are not bound by any office they may hold or previous publicly stated positions on the issues for discussion.
Notable American participants include Stacey Abrams, CEO of Sage Works Production; Anne Applebaum, staff writer at The Atlantic; Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer; Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; and Peter Thiel, President of Thiel Capital. Other prominent Americans include Jack Clark of Anthropic, Alex Karp of Palantir, Eric Schmidt of Relativity Space, and Lawrence Summers of Harvard, alongside national security figures like Christopher Donahue, Commander of US Army Europe and Africa, and Samuel Paparo, Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command. Political and corporate media voices such as Jason Smith, Member of Congress, and Fareed Zakaria, host of Fareed Zakaria GPS, round out the roster.
Below is the complete list of participants:
- Abrams, Stacey (USA), CEO, Sage Works Production
- Albuquerque, Maria Luís (INT), European Commissioner Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union
- Alcázar Benjumea, Diego del (ESP), CEO, IE University
- Alverà, Marco (ITA), Co-Founder, zhero.net; CEO TES
- Andersson, Magdalena (SWE), Leader, Social Democratic Party
- Applebaum, Anne (USA), Staff Writer, The Atlantic
- Attal, Gabriel (FRA), Former Prime Minister
- Auchincloss, Murray (CAN), CEO, BP plc
- Baker, James H. (USA), Former Director, Office of Net Assessment, Department of Defense
- Barbizet, Patricia (FRA), Chair and CEO, Temaris & Associés SAS
- Barroso, José Manuel (PRT), Chair International Advisors, Goldman Sachs International
- Baudson, Valérie (FRA), CEO, Amundi SA
- Beleza, Leonor (PRT), President, Champalimaud Foundation
- Birol, Fatih (INT), Executive Director, International Energy Agency
- Botín, Ana (ESP), Group Executive Chair, Banco Santander SA
- Bourla, Albert (USA), Chair and CEO, Pfizer Inc.
- Brende, Børge (NOR), President, World Economic Forum
- Brunner, Magnus (INT), European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration
- Brzoska, Rafal (POL), CEO, InPost SA
- Busch, Ebba (SWE), Minister for Energy, Business and Industry
- Caine, Patrice (FRA), Chair & CEO, Thales Group
- Calviño, Nadia (INT), President, European Investment Bank
- Castries, Henri de (FRA), President, Institut Montaigne
- Chambers, Jack (IRL), Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Reform and Digitalisation
- Champagne, François-Philippe (CAN), Minister of Finance and National Revenue
- Clark, Jack (USA), Co-Founder & Head of Policy, Anthropic PBC
- Crawford, Kate (USA), Professor and Senior Principal Researcher, USC and Microsoft Research
- Donahue, Christopher (USA), Commander, US Army Europe and Africa
- Donohoe, Paschal (INT), President, Eurogroup; Minister of Finance
- Döpfner, Mathias (DEU), Chair and CEO, Axel Springer SE
- Eberstadt, Nicholas N. (USA), Henry Wendt Scholar in Political Economy, AEI
- Ek, Daniel (SWE), CEO, Spotify SA
- Ekholm, Börje (SWE), CEO, Ericsson Group
- Eriksen, Øyvind (NOR), President and CEO, Aker ASA
- Feltri, Stefano (ITA), Journalist
- Fentener van Vlissingen, Annemiek (NLD), Chair, SHV Holdings NV
- Fraser, Jane (USA), CEO, Citigroup
- Freeland, Chrystia (CAN), Minister of Transport and Internal Trade
- Friedman, Thomas L. (USA), Foreign Affairs Columnist, The New York Times
- Gabuev, Alexander (INT), Director, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center
- Hammer, Kristina (AUT), President, Salzburg Festival
- Harrington, Kevin (USA), Senior Director for Strategic Planning, NSC
- Hassabis, Demis (GBR), Co-Founder and CEO, Google DeepMind
- Hedegaard, Connie (DNK), Chair, KR Foundation
- Heinrichs, Rebeccah (USA), Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
- Heraty, Anne (IRL), Chair, Sherry Fitzgerald ana IBEC
- Herlin, Jussi (FIN), Vice Chair, KONE Corporation
- Hernández de Cos, Pablo (ESP), General Manager Elect, Bank for International Settlements
- Hobson, Mellody (USA), Co-CEO and President, Ariel Investments LLC
- Hoekstra, Wopke (INT), European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth
- Hunt, Jeremy (GBR), Member of Parliament
- Isla, Pablo (ESP), Vice-Chair, Nestlé SA
- Johansson, Micael (SWE), President and CEO, Saab AB
- Jonsson, Conni (SWE), Founder and Chair, EQT Group
- Karp, Alex (USA), CEO, Palantir Technologies Inc.
- Klingbeil, Lars (DEU), Vice-Chancellor; Minister of Finance
- Klöckner, Julia (DEU), President Bundestag
- Kostrzewa, Wojciech (POL), President, Polish Business Roundtable
- Kotkin, Stephen (USA), Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
- Kratsios, Michael (USA), Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
- Kravis, Henry R. (USA), Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chair, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
- Kudelski, André (CHE), Chair and CEO, Kudelski Group SA
- Kuleba, Dmytro (UKR), Adjunct Professor, Sciences Po
- Leeuwen, Geoffrey van (INT), Director Private Office of the Secretary General, NATO
- Lemierre, Jean (FRA), Chair, BNP Paribas
- Letta, Enrico (ITA), Dean, IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs
- Leysen, Thomas (BEL), Chair, dsm-firmenich AG
- Lighthizer, Robert (USA), Chair, Center for American Trade
- Liikanen, Erkki (FIN), Chair, IFRS Foundation Trustees
- Lundstedt, Martin (SWE), CEO, Volvo Group
- Marin, Sanna (FIN), Strategic Counsellor, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
- McGrath, Michael (INT), European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law
- Mensch, Arthur (FRA), Co-Founder and CEO, Mistral AI
- Micklethwait, John (USA), Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg LP
- Minton Beddoes, Zanny (GBR), Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
- Mitsotakis, Kyriakos (GRC), Prime Minister
- Monti, Mario (ITA), Senator for life
- Moore, Richard (GBR), Chief, Secret Intelligence Service
- Nadella, Satya (USA), CEO, Microsoft Corporation
- Netherlands, H.M. the King of the (NLD),
- O’Leary, Michael (IRL), Group CEO, Ryanair Group
- Ollongren, Kajsa (NLD), Fellow, Chatham House; Senior Fellow, GLOBSEC
- Özyeğin, Murat (TUR), Chair, Fiba Group
- Papalexopoulos, Dimitri (GRC), Chair, TITAN S.A.
- Paparo, Samuel (USA), Commander, US Indo-Pacific Command
- Philippe, Édouard (FRA), Mayor, Le Havre
- Pouyanné, Patrick (FRA), Chair and CEO, TotalEnergies SE
- Prokopenko, Alexandra (INT), Fellow, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center
- Rachman, Gideon (GBR), Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Financial Times
- Rappard, Rolly van (NLD), Co-Founder and Chair, CVC Capital Partners
- Reiche, Katherina (DEU), Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy
- Ringstad Vartdal, Birgitte (NOR), CEO, Statkraft AS
- Roche, Nicolas (FRA), Secretary General, General Secretariat for Defence and National Security
- Rutte, Mark (INT), Secretary General, NATO
- Salvi, Diogo (PRT), Co-Founder and CEO, TIMWE
- Sawers, John (GBR), Executive Chair, Newbridge Advisory Ltd.
- Scherf, Gundbert (DEU), Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Helsing GmbH
- Schimpf, Brian (USA), Co-Founder & CEO, Anduril Industries
- Schmidt, Eric E. (USA), Executive Chair and CEO, Relativity Space Inc
- Schmidt, Wolfgang (DEU), Former Federal Minister for Special Tasks, Head of the Chancellery
- Šefčovič, Maroš (INT), European Commissioner Trade and Economic Security; Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency
- Sewing, Christian (DEU), CEO, Deutsche Bank AG
- Sikorski, Radoslaw (POL), Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Şimşek, Mehmet (TUR), Minister of Finance
- Smith, Jason (USA), Member of Congress
- Stoltenberg, Jens (NOR), Minister of Finance
- Streeting, Wes (GBR), Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
- Stubb, Alexander (FIN), President of the Republic
- Suleyman, Mustafa (USA), CEO, Microsoft AI
- Summers, Lawrence (USA), Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University
- Thiel, Peter (USA), President, Thiel Capital LLC
- Toulemon, Laurent (FRA), Senior Researcher, INED
- Uggla, Robert (DNK), Chair, A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S
- Valentini, Valentino (ITA), Deputy Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy
- Vassy, Luis (FRA), Director, Sciences Po
- Verhoeven, Karel (BEL), Editor-in-Chief, De Standaard
- Wallenberg, Jacob (SWE), Chair, Investor AB
- Wallenberg, Marcus (SWE), Chair, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB
- Weder di Mauro, Beatrice (CHE), President, Centre for Economic Policy Research
- Weel, David van (NLD), Minister of Justice and Security
- Wilmès, Sophie (INT), Vice-President, European Parliament
- Zakaria, Fareed (USA), Host, Fareed Zakaria GPS
- Zeiler, Gerhard (AUT), President, Warner Bros. Discovery International
In 2016, Thiel offered a rare comment to reporters outside of the Bilderberg conference, telling We Are Change reporter Luke Rudkowski that, “Engaging with diverse perspectives is crucial, regardless of differences.”
“Our society faces numerous challenges, and we must […] find ways to have open discussions, even if not everything is fully transparent,” the added.
Three Reasons a Coffee Gift Set From This Christian Company Is Perfect for Christmas
When you’re searching for a Christmas gift that’s meaningful, useful, and rooted in faith, you don’t want to settle for anything generic. This season is filled with noise — mass-produced products, last-minute picks, and trends that fade as quickly as they appear. But one gift stands apart because it blends genuine quality with a message that matters: a coffee gift set from Promised Grounds Coffee.
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