Bilderberg does not rule world: Montbrial quips on secretive club

Thierry de Montbrial is one of the best known commentators and researchers of global political and economic affairs. He chaired the Department of Economics at Ecole Polytechnique from 1974 to 1992, and was the director of the Policy Planning Staff at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1970s. He is also serving at the advisory board of the Peterson Institute International Economics in Washington, and on the editorial board of Foreign Policy magazine.

Apart from these official titles, he was, or could still be, a member of Bilderberg Group, a secretive gathering of influential figures from the both sides of the Atlantic. Conspiracy theories claim Bilderberg is a de facto world government that rules the mankind behind the curtains.

Since 1954, this invitation-only group of rich, powerful and most influential figures in Western Europe and the U.S. has met every year under extreme privacy. Timothy Geithner, Donald Rumsfeld and Ben Bernanke are all rumored to have been invited to the group at least once as well as Tony Blair, Mario Draghi and Joseph Ackerman, though there is few official records of the attendance.

Montbrial seemingly enjoys such conspiracy theories.

"Of course (we rule the world)," he burst into a short laugh, but soon repossessed his calm. "The Bilderberg Group is one of these clubs which is very, very mythical. But unfortunately, it does not rule the world." He did not elaborate and moved on to other topics.

The members are believed to be mostly, or wholly white, and their meeting is strictly off the record. This secrecy has raised suspicions that while in Bilderberg these people form a consensus regarding major global issues, such as whether to invade Iraq.

"I don't think (we are) a global ruling class because I don't think a global ruling class exists. I simply think it's people who have influence interested to speak to other people who have influence," said Etienne Davignon, a Bilderburg member and former vice president of the European Commission, on BBC in 2005.