Editing Bilderberg Meeting (section)

== Activities and goals ==
The group's original goal of promoting [[Atlanticism]], strengthening US-European relations, and preventing another world war has grown.  According to Andrew Kakabadse, the Bilderberg Group's theme is to "bolster a consensus around [[free market capitalism|free-market Western capitalism]] and its interests around the globe".<ref name="BBC News Magazine 2011" /> In 2001, [[Denis Healey]], a Bilderberg group founder and a steering committee member for 30 years, said, "To say we were striving for a [[One World Government|one-world government]] is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."<ref name="Ronson 2001">{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Ronson |title=Who pulls the strings? (part 3) |date=10 March 2001 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/10/extract1 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=14 May 2009 |location=London}}</ref>

According to the web page of the group, the meetings are conducted under the [[Chatham House Rule]], allowing the participants to use any information they gained during the meeting, but not to disclose the names of the speakers or any other participants. According to former chairman [[Étienne Davignon]] in 2011, a major attraction of Bilderberg group meetings is that they provide an opportunity for participants to speak and debate candidly and to find out what major figures really think, without the risk of off-the-cuff comments becoming fodder for controversy in the media.<ref name="The Economist 2011">{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/node/17928993 |title=A special report on global leaders |pages=12–14 |date=22 January 2011 |newspaper=The Economist}}</ref> A 2008 press release from the "American Friends of Bilderberg" stated that "Bilderberg's only activity is its annual Conference and that at the meetings, no resolutions were proposed, no votes taken, and no policy statements issued."<ref name="bwire">{{cite web| year = 2008| title = Bilderberg Announces 2008 Conference| work = businesswire.com| publisher = BusinessWire| url = http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080605006246&newsLang=en| access-date =7 June 2008}}</ref> However, in November 2009, the group hosted a dinner meeting at the [[Château of Val-Duchesse]] in Brussels outside its annual conference to promote the candidacy of [[Herman Van Rompuy]] for [[President of the European Council]].<ref>{{cite news |title=EU Presidency candidate Herman Van Rompuy calls for new taxes |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6582837/EU-Presidency-candidate-Herman-Van-Rompuy-calls-for-new-taxes.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6582837/EU-Presidency-candidate-Herman-Van-Rompuy-calls-for-new-taxes.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=16 November 2009 |quote=during a secret dinner to promote his candidacy hosted by the elite Bilderberg Group |author=Waterfield, Bruno |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>