Étienne Davignon

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Étienne Davignon  link Facebook IMDB Powerbase (Deep politician, politician,Belgian nobility)
File:Étienne Davignon.jpg
Born	4 October 1932 Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Belgian
Alma mater	Catholic University of Louvain
Criminal charge	war crimes, kidnapping
Spouse	Antoinette Spaak
Party	Humanist Democratic Centre
Relatives	Julien Davignon
Belgian deep politician, EU commissioner, Bilderberg chairman, Egmont Institute president... Charged in 2026 in connection with the assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba

Étienne Davignon is a deep politician, former chair of the Bilderberg Steering committee and president of the Egmont Institute. Davignon was a Belgian diplomat in the Congo in 1961 when the Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated. In March 2026 a Belgian court ruled that he must face War crimes charges in that connection.

Career

After receiving a Doctorate of Law from the Université catholique de Louvain, Davignon joined the Belgian Foreign Ministry, in 1959, and within two years had become an attaché under Paul-Henri Spaak, then Minister of Foreign Affairs (a fellow Bilderberger-to-be who would later be NATO Secretary General).

As chairman of Société Générale de Belgique, Étienne Davignon was a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists.

Davignon later became the first head of the International Energy Agency, from 1974 to 1977, before becoming a member of the European Commission, of which he was vice-president from 1981 till 1985. From 1989 to 2001, he was chairman of the Belgian bank Société Générale de Belgique, which is now part of the French supplier Suez and was not an arm of the French bank Société Générale, but a Belgian institution. He is now Vice Chairman of Suez subsidiary, Suez-Tractebel.

He was/is on the board of Kissinger Associates, and has also been board member of Anglo American Mining, Gilead Sciences, ICI, Pechiney, Foamex, Fiat, BASF, Solvay, Sofina, Recticel, CMB, Cumerio, Brussels Airlines, BIAC, Petrofina, Bozar and others.

Bilderberg

Davignon attended many Bilderberg conferences (at least as far back as 1977) and took over from Peter Carrington as chairman of the annual Bilderberg conference in 1998, chairing until 2011. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group. He moderated the 1986 Bilderberg discussion on 'Current Events: Terrorism'.

Euro creation

Étienne Davignon stated in a 2009 interview that the Bilderberg group "helped create the euro in the 1990s", a claim which is given credence by the leadership of the European Monetary Institute, the European Central Bank and by a leaked report of the 1955 Bilderberg meeting which mentions a desire for a single European currency.

Criminal charge

In 2026, a court in Brussels ruled that Étienne Davignon, would face a criminal court in connection with the 1961 assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.