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.
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
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.
