== 2014 BILDERBERG CONFERENCE TO BE HELD AT THE MARRIOT HOTEL IN COPENHAGEN, MAY 29th – JUNE 1st ==
Every year, the influential Bilderberg Group holds an exclusive three day conference: an international trade and policy summit attended by senior politicians and policymakers, billionaire investors, European royalty, bank bosses, corporate CEOs, and media moguls from all over the world.
The participant list is a roll call of the biggest executives on the planet, the heads of companies such as Shell, HSBC, Google and Deutsche Bank. These executives will spend three days, in private, discussing economics, trade policy and geopolitics, with finance ministers, European Commissioners, foreign ministers, and even prime ministers.
== WHAT IS THE BILDERBERG GROUP? ==
The Bilderberg Group is an influential trade and finance lobbying organisation, which every year holds a three day conference.
The 2013 conference was held in a luxury hotel outside London. Two years ago it was held near Washington DC.
The first official Bilderberg conference was held in Holland in 1954, making 2014 is Bilderberg’s 60th year. This year is the first time since 1969 that the conference will take place in Denmark.
The Bilderberg Group is governed by a Steering Committee, chaired by Henri de Castries, the Chairman and CEO of AXA (the huge French insurance and investment group). Also on the Steering Committee are the billionaire venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal and director of Facebook; Thomas Enders, the CEO of Airbus (the European defence & aeronautics multinational); and Peter Sutherland, the Chairman of Goldman Sachs International.
== WHO ATTENDS? ==
Heads of corporations, such as: Shell, BP, Rio Tinto, Novartis, Dow Chemicals, Unilever, and Nestlé.
Heads of banks and financial institutions such as: HSBC, Citigroup, Lazard, Goldman Sachs, Santander, Barclays, American Express, JP Morgan, TD Bank and Deustche Bank.
Heads of new media and tech companies, including – typically: Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman of Google); Peter Thiel; Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn); and Craig Mundie, (senior advisor to the CEO of Microsoft).
From media: proprietors, editors and senior representatives from The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Die Zeit, Le Monde, and The Washington Post. The Economist provides the ‘rapporteurs’ who transcribe the meeting. The Editor-in-Chief of the Economist also generally attends.
Leaders from the world of government and public policy, such as: the World Bank; the European Council; the ECB; the Bank for International Settlements; the IMF; the Federal Reserve; and the US Treasury.
European, American and Canadian politicians, Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers such as: the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, and UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, who both attended in 2013. Also expected to attend from the UK are: Bilderberg Association trustee and Cabinet Minister, Kenneth Clarke MP; regular participant Lord Mandelson; and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who has attended the conference six times (the last time in 2013).
Royalty are also on the guest list including: Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands; King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands; King Juan Carlos I of Spain; Queen Sofia of Spain; the Infanta Christina of Spain; and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.
== 2014, THE YEAR OF TTIP ==
The transatlantic trade agreement TTIP features will feature highly on the conference agenda this year. Finance ministers from many EU countries will be in attendance (last year there were five), as will key lobbyists for TTIP and several members of lobby group British American Business, who are spear-heading this top-level trade agreement.
== FACILITIES FOR THE PRESS ==
There is a police-sanctioned press space in the car park directly facing the Marriott hotel gates, and are providing nearby power facilities and up-to-date information and delegate photos. The press space will be open every day from 9am to 6pm from Thursday 29th May to Sunday 1st June.
== POLICE AND PROTESTS ==
Local police expect several hundred transparency campaigners to be present outside the Marriott hotel for the duration of the conference.
== LOCATION ==
The Marriott Copenhagen, Kalvebod Brygge 5, 1560 København, Denmark
== OFFICIAL WEBSITE ==
www.bilderbergmeetings.org
