By JOSH FRIEDMAN
SOFIA, Bulgaria – The 2018 Bilderberg Conference will take place in Turin Italy in June, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said when asked by a journalist on the sidelines of this week’s European Union Western Balkans summit.
Serbia’s government previously stated in a press release that Brnabic was invited to attend the 2018 Bilderberg Conference and that the event will take place June 7-10 in Turin. Bilderberg organizers, however, have refrained from disclosing the location and dates of their upcoming meeting.
The Bilderberg Group is an organization of primarily European and North American elites from business and politics. Bilderberg conferences take place annually at hotels or resorts in Europe or North America, often in early June. The meetings are closed to the public, and members of the press who are invited to attend do not report on the conferences.
Following Brnabic’s appearance in January at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Belgrade announced Brnabic had been invited to attend the 2018 Bilderberg Conference. The Serbian government’s release stated Bilderberg Steering Committee Chairman Henri de Castries invited Brnabic to attend the group’s 2018 conference after a presentation given during a meeting of the New Leaders for Europe group at the WEF in Davos.
Brnabic again appeared and spoke at a WEF forum held Thursday on the sidelines of the EU Western Balkans summit in Sofia, Bulgaria. Brnabic spoke at a time when the forum was closed to media. The forum largely covered Balkan infrastructure projects and included participants from international financial institutions, including Kristalina Georgieva, the chief executive officer of the World Bank and a 2016 Bilderberg Conference attendee.
When asked in February to confirm the date and location of the 2018 conference, the Bilderberg media service responded with a statement.
“Kindly note that we do not confirm the date and venue of this year’s Bilderberg meeting at this stage. As in previous years, we will publish a press release including the date and location, the discussed topics as well as a list of participants on our website in due course before the next meeting.”
Bilderberg organizers typically do not divulge the meeting date and location until well into springtime. However, they often publish the date and location several weeks in advance of the conference.
Last year, the Bilderberg group held its official meeting in Chantilly, Virigina, as it had done in 2012 and 2008. Bilderberg previously met in Italy in 2004, 1987, 1965 and 1957.
Brnabic’s apparent invitation to attend Bilderberg coincides with a push by the EU and NATO to reel in the Western Balkans, a region where the West is currently competing for influence with Russia, Turkey and China. After years of placing little focus on the Balkans, western political elites are now paying more attention to the region.
This week’s summit in Sofia, Bulgaria was the first high level meeting between EU and Western Balkan leaders in 15 years. The summit concluded without European leaders agreeing on terms pertaining to the accession of Western Balkan states into the EU. Nonetheless, the EU has set a target date of Serbia joining the union in 2025.
FOR FUTHER BACKGROUND ON BILDERBERG, BRNABIC AND THE BALKANS, READ:
BILDERBERG 2018 TO MEET IN TURIN, ITALY? A SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BALKANS