The Trilateral Commission (Europe)

Last updated 24 October, 1996.

Press here for more information in Portuguese on the European meeting in Helsinki Carregue aqui para mais informação em português sobre a reunião europeia em Helsínquia

There are 150 European members of the Trilateral Commission (20 for each one of the G-7 countries, 14 for Spain, 9 for Netherlands, 7 for Belgium and Luxemburg, 5 for Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden, 4 for Finland).

There have been 7 Plenary Meetings in Europe and 20 Regional ones. Of those, Belgium hosted 3; France, Germany, Ireland, Spain and United Kingdom 2; Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Portugal 1. Plenary Meetings were hosted in Bonn (1977), London (1980), Rome (1983), Madrid (1986), Paris (1989), Lisbon (1992) and Copenhaguen (1995). The 1998 Plenary Meeting is scheduled for Berlin.

The region itself reflects the two antagonistic forces of globalization and fragmentation, present at world level, which gave a rationale to the trilateral initiative and which continue in the background of the Commission's activities. In effect, Europe has no clearly defined borders and includes countries in various stages of economic development. Moreover, if account is taken of the role of language and culture, large parts of the Southern Hemisphere in Africa, Asia and America show strong affinities to Europe.

Aside from the creation of a Greek national group, which was decided at the 20th meeting in Helsinki, the enlargement of the 14 national groups to include rotating representatives of the former Eastern bloc is a possibility being envisaged among European members.

The ExCom gathering 22 individuals meets twice yearly, at the European and Plenary Meetings. On the occasion of the 20th European Meeting in Helsinki on 11-13 October, 1996, a European position on the matter of enlargement emerged, as it had been prepared by the various national groups. Consultations with the European author Bill Emmott on the future of trilateralism were promoted by the chairman of the French group Hervé de Carmoy on 26 September. The European chairman Otto Lambsdorff also attended and the Portuguese group was represented by its chairman.

There were other such initiatives and in Helsinki the ExCom restated the rule for European membership, namely the acceptance of a candidacy by the European Commission. It also agreed that Russia's membership was a trilateral not a European problem, noting that the country was Euro-Asian and that the Japanese side was the only one with a single nation. The matter will be further discussed at the Chairman's meeting in early November and in the next Plenary Meeting in Tokyo.

P.S. An earlier version was presented at the first meeting of Forum Portugal Global, on 17 September, 1996. It was also discussed at the Paris office on 27 September. Nevertheless, I remain responsible for the text. Send questions or comments to Jorge Braga de Macedo.