Madrid hosts the meeting of the Bilderberg Club, with the presence of Cuerpo, Albares, Botín, Entrecanales and De Cos

May 31. () –

The Bilderberg Club, a group that brings together the most influential people in the world, is meeting these days in Madrid to debate current and future issues of global interest, and will be attended by eleven Spanish representatives.

This 70th edition of the Bilderberg meeting will be held between May 30 and June 2, 2024 in the Spanish capital. As always, a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia, labor and the media have been invited.

Among the Spanish guests are the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares; the Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Body; the president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín; the president of Acciona, José Manuel Entrecanales; the governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos and the president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Nadia Calviño.

Also present will be the president of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Sol Daurella Comadrán; the director of the newspaper ‘El Español’, Pedro J. Ramírez; the president of the Planeta and Atresmedia group, José Crehueras; the former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (PP), Ildefonso Castro, and the president of the Elcano Royal Institute, José Juan Ruiz.

At the international level, the presence of the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, stands out; the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte; the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla; the president of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe; the president of the European Council, Charles Michel; the CEO of Ryanair Group, Michael O’Leary, or the CEO of Deutsche Bank AG, Christian Sewing.

The key topics of debate this year are artificial intelligence (AI), the climate, the future of war and the geopolitical landscape, with Ukraine, Russia, China and the Middle East in focus, the economic challenges of Europe and the United States and the US political landscape

This is the third time that this meeting has been held in Spain, after the first one at the Balneario Isla de La Toja (Pontevedra) in 1989 and the second one at the Hotel Dolce in Sitges (Barcelona) in 2010.

ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS

Founded in 1954, the Bilderberg conference is an annual meeting aimed at fostering dialogue between Europe and North America. Although the list of attendees and the major topics that will be debated are known, the political and social relevance of the members who attend their meetings each year has led to all types of conspiracy theories.

One of the causes of the different theories is the hermetic debate system that the club uses. In it, through a forum for informal discussions, debates are carried out under the ‘Chatham House’ rule, which establishes that, although participants are free to use the information received in said debates, they cannot reveal the identity or content of the speeches of any participant in them. This reserved nature of the conference means that speakers can freely express their ideas.

To guarantee the privacy of the conversations held within the club, these are not transmitted to the media, they are not transcribed, they are not recorded, nor are agreements voted on or official statements made.

Security is so strict that guests cannot bring companions, neither their partner, nor bodyguards. In addition, they cannot go in their own vehicle either.