Le Siècle
Not to be confused with the highly secretive deep state milieu, Le Cercle
Le Siècle is an elite bi-partisan social club in France that meets once a month for dinner at the French Automobile Club in Paris's Place de la Concorde. Membership in Le Siècle "symbolizes the French nomenklatura" and includes France's top intellectuals, politicians, chief executives, journalists, and artists; since the 1970s, one-third to half of all French government ministers were members of Le Siècle, regardless of political affiliation or party membership. That percentage peaked at 72% under Prime Minister Édouard Balladur (1993–95). French journalist and writer Emmanuel Ratier wrote in 1996 that the club's membership controls 90% of French GDP. [1]
There are 580 members and 160 guests. Its president 2020-21, Olivier Duhamel resigned after confessing to sexual assault on his then teenage stepson.
According to economist Gaël Giraud, another of its goals is to discuss priority topics to be covered in the media, that is to say to guide French public opinion, explaining the very uniform tone of the corporate French media.[2]
Contents
History
Le Siècle (English: 'the Century') was founded in 1944 by Georges Bérard-Quélin, a journalist and Freemason. The small group of the 1940s and 1950s eventually expanded to include major politicians across the political spectrum, from François Mitterrand, who was close associate of Bérard-Quélin, to Georges Pompidou via Pierre Mendès France. When a similar think tank called the Saint-Simon Foundation dissolved in 1999, many of its former members joined Le Siècle.
In the immediate post-war period, deep cleavages fragment the ruling class: resistance fighters against Vichy collaborators; bosses - liberal or right-wing - against senior planning officials; disunited political parties against a Communist Party at the height of its electoral results. Bérard-Quélin and his associates worked to reconcile the elites, and to exclude the communists.[3]
Its recruitment process is very strict and shows that it is impossible to become a member without strong sponsorship from this very selective community. One cannot apply, only two members of the club, including a member of the board of directors, can nominate a candidate. Admission is subject to a vote: each member of the board of directors has a black ball (refusal) and a white ball (acceptance). Each black ball is worth two white. So you have to have 67% white balls to win. In addition, three black balls automatically result in the refusal of the candidate. Finally, the latter, at first, is simply "invited". This position can last for several years until his status is reviewed. Depending on the result, he will either become a member or dismissed.[2]
Members opinion
"I really like Le Siècle," says Mrs. Martine Aubry, "I stopped going there in 1997 when I became minister. It was very interesting. I found myself at tables with extremely different people (...). The initiative can be perceived as totally elitist, but it remains a real meeting place. I learned a lot from it. Because, for me, real intelligence means trying to understand people who have a different logic." The former right-hand man of Mr. Jacques Delors, Mr. Pascal Lamy, current director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), explains his presence as a form of getting access: "It is important that the men on the left don't let the decision-makers be in contact only with the right." Others, like Pierre Moscovici, admit straight away that Le Siècle turns out to be" a very influential social network."[4]
List of members (selection)
- Claude Bébéar, former CEO of AXA
- Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos, former Minister Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industry (2005-2007).
- Emmanuel Chain, former TV presenter on M6
- Jean-Marie Colombani, former editor-in-chief of Le Monde (1994-2007)
- Jean-François Copé, President of the Union for a Popular Movement; member of the French National Assembly (2002-incumbent); Mayor of Meaux (1995-2002; 2005-incumbent); former Minister of the Budget (2005-2007)
- Michèle Cotta, first female member in 1983; political journalist
- Anne-Marie Couderc, CEO of Presstalis
- Rachida Dati, Member of the European Parliament and Mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris; former Minister of Justice (2007-2009)
- Renaud Denoix de Saint Marc, member of the Constitutional Council of France (2007-incumbent)
- Olivier Duhamel, Vice-President of Le Siècle (2010-incumbent); professor at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris; former Socialist Member of the European Parliament (1997-2004)
- Laurent Fabius, former Prime Minister (1984-1986)
- François Fillon, Prime Minister (2007-2012); former Minister of National Education (2004-2005); former Minister of Social Affairs (2002-2004).
- Claude Imbert, founding editor of Le Point
- Odile Jacob, publisher.
- Denis Jeambar, journalist.
- Laurent Joffrin former editor-in-chief of Libération (2006-2011)>
- Lionel Jospin, former Prime Minister (1997-2002), former Minister of National Education (1988-1992); former Minister of Sport (1988-1991)
- Serge July, founding editor of Libération
- Denis Kessler, CEO of Scor, former President of Le Siècle (2007-2010)
- Étienne Lacour, Secretary General of Le Siècle; editor-in-chief of the Société Générale de Presse.
- Maurice Lévy, CEO of Publicis
- Henri Loyrette, Vice-President of Le Siècle (2010-incumbent); director of the Louvre Museum (2001-incumbent)
- Nicole Notat, President of Le Siècle (2010-incumbent); CEO of Vigeo; former Secretary General of the CFDT
- Michel Pébereau, CEO of BNP Paribas
- Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, newscaster on TF1
- Alain de Pouzilhac, former CEO of Havas
- David Pujadas, TV presenter on France 2
- Jean-Pierre Raffarin, member of the French Senate; former Prime Minister (2002-2005)
- Edouard de Rothschild
- Nicolas Sarkozy, French President (2007-2012).
- Louis Schweitzer, former CEO of Renault
- Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (2007-2011)
- Marc Tessier, Treasurer of Le Siècle (2010-incumbent); former Chairman of France Télévisions
- Philippe Villin, former Chairman of Le Figaro and France Soir
- Gérard Worms, former CEO of N M Rothschild & Sons
Presidents
- Full article: Le Siècle/President
- Full article: Le Siècle/President
Known members
50 of the 152 of the members already have pages here:
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| Jacques Attali | French deep politician and academic. "The real bourgeoisie running the world is about 1,000 people. They are running capitalism." Attended the 1975 Bilderberg, Le siecle |
| Martine Aubry | French politician, WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow 1993 |
| Robert Badinter | French judge who gave the legal fig leaf for the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. Husband of Elisabeth Badinter |
| Patricia Barbizet | Prominent figure in the French business world |
| Éric Besson | |
| Marcel Boiteux | President of Le Siècle who worked his whole career for Électricité de France and created French energy independence with nuclear power. Bilderberg/1973. |
| Michel Bon | French enarquiste businessman. One of the first Young Leaders of the French-American Foundation. Attended two Bilderbergs in the early 2000s. |
| Thierry Breton | French politician and leader of large corporations, briefly at Rothschild & Cie Banque. WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/1998. From 2019 European Commissioner implementing censorship. |
| Claude Bébéar | French insurance executive and organizer of the business lobby. |
| Pierre-André de Chalendar | Double Bilderberg French businessman. |
| Jean-Pierre Chevenement | French Bilderberger politician |
| Bertrand Collomb | Connected French businessman. 13 Bilderbergs. |
| Jean-François Copé | French politician |
| Étienne Davignon | Belgian deep politician, EU commissioner, Bilderberg chairman, Egmont Institute president |
| Alain Duhamel | |
| Olivier Duhamel | President of the deep state club Le Siècle. He organized many events with the French intelligentsia, involving a lot of sex and alcohol and mixing adults and children. |
| Laurent Fabius | French politician who attended the 1994 and 2016 Bilderbergs |
| François Fillon | Bilderberger billionaire fraudster, French PM from 2007-2012 |
| Pierre Mendès France | Prime Minister of France in the 1950s, Bilderberg 1968, Le Siecle |
| Jean François-Poncet | French Minister of Foreign Affairs in the late 1970s, attended 2 Bilderbergs in the early 1980s. A panelist on Operating The Alliance at the 1985 Bilderberg. |
| Claude Imbert | French deep state connected central banker |
| Philippe Jaffré | French Deep state connected businessman who attended 3 Bilderbergs in the early 1990s. |
| Lionel Jospin | Bilderberg 1996. French PM 1997-2002 |
| Jean-Pierre Jouyet | Chief of Staff of President of France 2014-17, attended the 2008 Bilderberg |
| Alain Juppé | French PM, suspected deep state operative, Bilderberg, Le Cercle |
| Bernard Kouchner | Bilderberg French politician, 3 times French Health minister, founded Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde, attended 2005 pandemic planning exercise Atlantic Storm |
| Pascal Lamy | Multi-Bilderberg former Director-General of the World Trade Organization |
| Jack Lang | French minister for culture and education. Mentioned in relation to several France/VIPaedophile affairs. |
| Alof de Louvencourt | First President of Le Siecle |
| Maurice Lévy | Leader of Publicis Groupe,the world's third largest advertising and communications group for 30 years. Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum. Le Siècle. French Association of Private Enterprises. Compagnie financière Edmond de Rothschild. Deutsche Bank. |
| André Lévy-Lang | French banker on the Bilderberg Steering committee, 11 Bilderbergs, Le Siècle |
| Jean-Marie Messier | "France's most colourful and controversial business leader", WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/1993 |
| François Mitterrand | |
| Jérôme Monod | Le Siècle/President in 1975 |
| Pierre Moscovici | WEF French politician |
| Christian Noyer | Governor of the Banque de France 2003-2015 |
| Denis Olivennes | French media manager. |
| Laurence Parisot | French businesswoman |
| Georges Pompidou | General Manager of the Rothschild bank who was President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974 from a rare form of cancer. 1960 Bilderberg |
| Édouard de Rothschild | |
| Nicolas Sarkozy | French deep state operative charged with "criminal association" |
| Louis Schweitzer | Second generation Triple Bilderberger Swiss President of Le Siècle |
| Ernest-Antoine Seillière | Millionaire French businessman, Bilderberg/Steering committee, Le Siècle |
| Dominique Strauss-Kahn | French deep state operative, IMF Managing Director 2007-2011 |
| Jacques Toubon | French politician |
| Jean-Claude Trichet | President of the European Central Bank, Governor of the Bank of France, Bilderberg Steering committee |
| Ludovic Tron | President of French deep state network Le Siècle for 15 years. |
| Manuel Valls | |
| Louis-Charles Viossat | Revolving door Big Pharma lobbyist who was responsible for French Covid vaccine rollout. Replaced in January 2021 because he was perceived as too slow. |
| Hubert Védrine | French Bilderberger politician |
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