The Fascinating and Clandestine Bilderbergers 2005, plus Attendees

The Fascinating and Clandestine Bilderbergers 2005, plus Attendees
In life, consistency counts. The Bilderberg Group, the only private international organization that Time magazine rated 10 for secrecy on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being most secret) gathered again May 5 through 8, 2005, with little notice from the U.S. press. Encased in its usual tourniquet of protection, including sniffer dogs and private and state security toting automatic rifles, the group held its annual clandestine meeting at the 5-star Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern, Germany.

As the gray Bavarian sky rained, the conference rooms were allegedly warm and cozy, hosting today’s top powerbroking financiers, industrialists, and politicians. This is a very different group of movers and shakers from when the Bilderbergers first met officially in 1954.

In those days, the task at hand was not only to rebuild Europe from the ashes of World War II, but to make it so strong that no future Kaiser Wilhelm or Adolf Hitler could go to war with the excuse of uniting Europe. The attendees were statesmen and generals and bankers — the Gray Eminences or “wise old men” of America and Europe. They were mostly politicians with vision, plus generals who were sick of war and a few bankers who would provide the cash and loans to finance a new Europe.

Today, industrialists, corporate leaders, and financiers dominate. Their twining with politicians behind closed doors at a highly secure conclave where an invitation is the hottest ticket of the year is fascinating. The Bilderbergers are about money. A great deal of it. And about power. Of that there’s never enough.

Unfortunately, those who attend — including journalists and media magnates — must sign pledges to never reveal what they see and hear. At the same time, records of the seminars and talks are never released.

Still, word has leaked out that the Europeans were in a forgiving mood, their discontent with U.S. President George Bush’s activities in Iraq having largely melted away. The bi-continental group also discussed NAFTA, the potential trade pact between North and South America, costs and payoffs in the Middle East, Asia’s economic future, global economic problems, Russia’s shaky finances, and, of course, oil.

Among the regulars and invited guests were Josef Ackermann of the immensely influential Deutsche Bank, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands whose personal fortune and landholdings are said to exceed those of Bill Gates of Microsoft, Donald Graham who inherited the reins of The Washington Post from his mother Katherine Graham, Jorma Ollila of multinational Nokia, Richard Perle who advised President George W. Bush to invade Iraq and then saw his companies profit from it, Washington insider and attorney Vernon Jordan, Jürgen Schrempp of sprawling multinational DaimlerChrysler, Peter Sutherland of Goldman Sachs International which funds many of the deals of those who attend the meeting, and James Wolfensohn who is a former investment banker and head of the World Bank.

And of course there were the usual prime ministers, EU commissioners, and U.S. government officials:

2005 Regulars and Guests:

Honorary Chairman — Etienne Davignon, Vice Chairman, Suez-Tractebel, Belgium
Honorary Secretary General — J. Martin Taylor, International Advisor, Goldman Sachs International, Great Britain
Jozias J. van Aartsen, Parliamentary Leader, Liberal Party (VVD), Netherlands
Ziad Abu-Amr, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council; President of the Palestinian Council on Foreign Relations; Professor of Political Science, Birzeit University
Josef Ackermann, Chairman, Group Executive Committee. Deutsche Bank AG, Germany
Joaquin Almunia Amann, Commissioner, European Commission
George Alogoskoufis, Minister of Economy and Finance, Greece
Ali Babacan, Minister of Economic Affairs, Turkey
Francisco Pinto Balsemno, Francisco Pinto, Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.; Former Prime Minister, Portugal
José M. Durno Barroso, President, European Commission, Portugal
Erik Belfrage, Senior Vice President, SEB, Sweden
Franco Bernabe, Vice Chairman, Rothschild Europe, Italy
Nicolas Beytout, Editor-in-Chief, Le Figaro, France
Oscar Bronner, Publisher and Editor, Der Standard, Austria
John Browne, Group Chief Executive, British Petroleum, Great Britain
Hubert Burda, Chairman of the Board of Management, Hubert Burda Media, Germany
David Byrne, WHO Special Envoy on Global Cornmunicable Diseases; Former Commissioner, European Commission, Ireland
Philippe Camus, Philippe, CEO, EADS, France
Henri de Castries, Chairman of the Board, AXA, France
Juan Luis Cebrián. Juan Luis, CEO, PRISA media company, Spain
Timothy C. Collins, Senior Managing Director and CEO, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC, U.S.A.
Bertrand Collomb, Bertrand, Chairman, Lafarge, France
Pascal Couchepin, Head, Department of Home Affairs, Switzerland
George A. David, Chairman, Coca-Cola H.b.c. S.A., Greece
Thérese Delpech, Director for Strategic Affairs, Atomic Energy Commission, France
Anna Diamantopoulou, Member of Parliament, Greece
Arthur W.H. van Leeuwen, Arthur W.H., Chairman of the Executive Board, Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets, Netherlands
Thomas E. Donilon, Partner, O’Melveny & Myers, U.S.A.
Mathias Döpfner, CEO, Axel Springer AG, Germany
Anders Eldrup, President, DONG A/S, Denmark
John Elkann, Vice Chairman, Fiat S.p.A., Italy
Martin S. Feldstein, President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic Research, U.S.A.
William C. Ford, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Ford Motor Company, U.S.A.
Timothy F. Geithner, President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, U.S.A
Imregul Gencer, Member of the Board, Global Investment Holding, Turkey
Eival Gilady, Strategic Advisor to Prime Minister Sharon, Ireland
Dermot Gleeson, Chairman, AIB Group, Ireland
Donald E. Graham, Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company, U.S.A.
Bjrrn T. Grydeland, Ambassador to the EU, Netherlands
António Guterres, Former Prime Minister; President, Socialist International, Portugal
Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations, U.S.A.
Victor Halberstadt, Professor of Economics, Leiden University, Netherlands
Jean-Pierre Hansen, CEO, Suez-Tractebel S.A., France
Hans Peter Haselsteiner, CEO, Bauholding Strabag SE (Societas Europea), Austria
Connie Hedegaard, Minister for the Environment, Denmark
Richard C. Holbrooke, Vice Chairman, Perseus, U.S.A.
Jaap Hoop de Scheffer, Secretary General, NATO, Netherlands
Allan B. Hubbard, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council, U.S.A.
Jan Huyghebaert, Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group, Belgium
James A. Johnson, Vice Chairman, Perseus LLC, U.S.A.
James L. Jones, Supreme Allied Commander Euope, SHAPE, U.S.A.
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Senior Managing Director, Lazard FrPres & Co. LLC, U.S.A.
John M. Keane, President, GSI, LLC; General, US Army, Retired, U.S.A.
John Kerr, Director, Shell, Rio Tinto, Scottish Americal Investment Trust, Great Britain
Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc., U.S.A.
Klaus Kleinfeld, President and CEO, Siemens AG, Germany
Mustafa V. Koç, Chairman, Koç Holding A.S., TR
Hilmar Kopper, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, DaimlerChrysler AG, Germany
Bernard Kouchner, Director, “Santé et développement”, CNAM, France
Henry R. Kravis, Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., U.S.A.
Marie-Josée Kravis, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc., U.S.A.
Neelie Kroes, Commissioner, European Commission
André Kudelski, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Kudelski Group, CH
Pascal Lamy, President, Notre Europe; Former Commissioner, European Commission, France
Michael A.Ledeen, American Enterprise Institute, U.S.A.
Erkki Liikanen, Govemor and Chairman of the Board, Bank of Finland, Finland
Geir Lundestad, Director, Norwegian Nobel Institute; Secretary, Norwegian Nobel Committee, Norway
William J. Luti, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs, U.S.A.
Mogens Lykketoft, Chairman, Social Democratic Party, DK
Irshad Manji, Author/Founder of “Project Ijtihad,” Canada
Jessica T. Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, U.S.A.
Bruce Mau, Bruce Mau Design, Canada
Frank McKenna, Ambasssador to the U.S.A., Canada
Mark C. Medish, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, U.S.A.
Kenneth B. Mehlman, Chairman, Republican National Committee, U.S.A.
Angela Merkel, Chairman, CDU; Chairman CDU/CSU-Fraction
Ivan Miklos, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, SVK
Thierry de Montbrial, President, French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), France
Mario Monti, President, Bocconi University; Former Commissioner for Competition, European Commission
Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice Chancellor, McGill University, Canada
Egil Myklebust, Chairman of the Board of Directors, SAS, Norway
Matthias Nass, Deputy Editor, Die Zeit, Germany
Elena Nemirovskaya, Founder and Director, Moscow School of Political Studies, Russia
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
Andrzej Olechowski, Leader Civic Platform, Poland
Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Nokia Corporation, Finland
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
Loyola de Palacio, President, Council on Foreign Relations, Partido Popular, E.
George A. Papandreou, President, Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), Greece
Frank H. Pearl, Chairman and CEO, Perseus, LLC, U.S.A.
Norman Pearlstine, Editor-in-Chief, Time Inc., U.S.A.
Mikael Pentikäinen, President, Sanoma Corporation, Finland
Richard N. Perle, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, U.S.A.
Friedbert Pflüger, Member of Parliament, CDU/CSU Fraktion, Germany
H.R.H. Prince Philippe, Belgium
J. Robert S. Prichard, J. Robert S., President. Torstar Media Group & CEO, Torstar Corporation, CDN
Rato y Figaredo, Rodrigo de, Managing Director, IMF
Heather Reisman, President and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc., CDN
David Rockefeller, Member, JP Morgan International Council, U.S.A.
Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation, U.S.A.
Matias Rodriguez Inciarte, Executive Vice Chairman, Grupo Santander, E.
Dennis B. Ross, Director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, U.S.A.
Olivier Roy, Senior Researcher, CNRS, France
Nuno Morais Sarmento, Nuno Morais, Former Minister of State and of Presidency; Member of Parliament, Portugal
Paolo Scaroni, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Enel S.p.A., Italy
Otto Schily, Minister of the Interior, Germany
Rudolf Scholten, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG, Austria
Jürgen E. Schrempp, Chairman of the Board of Management, DaimlerChrysler AG, Germany
Ekkehard D. Schulz, Chairman of the Executive Board, ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany
Sebastián Gascón, Miguel, Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister, E.
Natan Sharansky, Former Minister for Jerusalem & Diaspora Affairs, Israel
Domenico Siniscalco, Minister for Economy and Finance, Italy
Robert Skidelsky, Professor of Political Economy, Warwick University, Great Britain
H.M. the Queen of Spain
Peter D. Sutherland, Chairman, Goldman Sachs International; Chairman, BP p.1.c., Ireland
Jacek Szwajcowski, CEO, Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna, Poland
Teija H. Tiilikainen, Director, University of Helsinki, Network for European Studies, Finland
Michel Tilmant, Chairman, ING N.V., Netherlands
Jean-Claude Trichet, Governor, European Central Bank
Cüneyt Ülsever, Columnist, Hürriyet
Daniel L. Vasella, Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG, CH
Jeroen van der Veer, Chairman Committee of.Managing Directors, Royal Dutch Shell Group, Netherlands
John Vanocur, Senior Correspondent, International Herald Tribune, U.S.A.
Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of the Board, Investor AB; Vice-Chairman, SEB, Sweden
Mark R. Warner, Governor of Virginia, U.S.A.
Peter Weinberg, CEO, Goldman Sachs International, U.S.A.
Matthias Wissmann, Member of Parliament, CDU/CSU Fraktion, Germany
Martin H. Wolf, Asscociate Editor and Economics Commentator, The Financial Times, Great Britain
James D. Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank, U.S.A.
Paul Wolfowitz, President designate, The World Bank, U.S.A.
Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International, U.S.A.
Klaus Zumwinkel, Chairman of the Board of Management, Deutsche Post AG, Germany

Rapporteurs/Reporters:

John Micklethwait, United States Editor, The Economist, U.S.A.
Adrian D. Wooldridge, Foreign Correspondent, The Economist, Great Britain