 Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands, eponymous location of the first conference in 1954 51°59′23″N 5°49′03″E / 51.9898°N 5.8176°E | |
| Formation | 29 May 1954 |
|---|---|
Membership | c. 150 invitees, smaller core group |
Co-Chair of the Steering Committee | Marie-Josée Kravis |
| Website | bilderbergmeetings |
The Bilderberg Meeting (also known as the "Bilderberg Group", "Bilderberg Conference" or "Bilderberg Club") is an annual off-the-record forum established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defined as bolstering a consensus around free market Western capitalism and its interests around the globe. Participants include political leaders, experts, captains of industry, finance, academia, numbering between 120 and 150. Attendees are entitled to use information gained at meetings, but not attribute it to a named speaker (known as the Chatham House Rule). The group states that the purpose of this is to encourage candid debate while at the same time maintaining privacy, but critics from a wide range of viewpoints have called it into question, and it has provoked conspiracy theories from both the left and right.
Meetings were chaired by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands until 1975. The current Chairman is French businessman Henri de Castries. Since 1954, the meeting has taken place every year except in 1976, when it was cancelled due to the Lockheed bribery scandals involving Prince Bernhard,[1] and in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Lisbon hosted the 69th meeting in 2023.[3]
- ^ "U.S. to Urge Pact in U.N. to Combat Business Bribes". The New York Times. 6 March 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
- ^ Skelton, Charlie (4 June 2022). "Bilderberg reconvenes in person after two-year pandemic gap". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
- ^ "Press release 2023".