The
annual meeting of Bilderberg “club” starts tomorrow. During three days pretty
influential people from the global corporate world will sit together with
politicians, opinion-makers and some very senior security service masters to
review some of the megatrends – as they call the key challenges of today´s
world.
The
leader of this initiative is the current boss of AXA, the major international
insurance company. He is a well-connected Frenchman.
This
is a very secretive conference. Journalists are not allowed in as such. A
couple of them will be there but as invitees, in their capacity as leading
opinion-makers. They will be there because their writings –opinion columns – do
influence a good number of decision makers. Secrecy leads to suspicion. Some
people have called the Bilderberg crowd –about 120 to 150 of them every year –the
real masters of the universe, the key plotters in terms of the next world events.
Such
label is an exaggeration. Many of those in attendance have real power, in their
own circles, others have prestige but little power left in their guns –they belong
to the category one calls the “has been”. Obviously, there are many very
powerful people outside this “club”.
Bilderberg
is one of several power meetings. It is above all a networking exercise. It is
of course of particular importance when compared with other similar networking
opportunities – like Davos –because the number of Bilderberg participants is
smaller and therefore the interaction and the bonds among them have a chance of
being much more intense.
In
the end, there is a lot of smoke and mystery, but very little movement beyond
the private interests of the companies represented and the group therapy it
provides to people with big egos.
