Europe needs to change mindset to prepare for war, top Danish general warns

PARIS — European countries are not fully ready yet for war, Denmark’s chief of defense staff warned on Tuesday.

“We have to change our mindset from diagnosis to delivery. We’re no longer very surprised but we’re not also really ready,” Gen. Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard said at the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum.

The third edition of France’s flagship defense conference started on Tuesday and will last until Thursday, with Denmark as the guest of honor.

Top military and intelligence officers have warned Russia could attack NATO territory by the end of the decade.

Denmark has significantly boosted defense spending since the war in Ukraine started in 2022. Copenhagen has also sought to deepen military ties with European countries — for example with joint exercises — after repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to annex Greenland.

“We do not need to be perfectly prepared, we need to be better prepared than our adversary,” the Danish general told an audience of top European military brass and French officials, including Deputy Defense Minister Alice Rufo.

Wiggers Hyldgaard also stressed that deterrence — which “only exists when adversaries conclude the cost of an aggression” is too high — depends on fighting power, solid alliances, inventories as well as production. “Production capacity is part of deterrence, supply chains are part of deterrence,” he said.

“If in Europe we want to be able to defend ourselves by 2030, we must prepare for it now. High intensity warfare is not a scenario, it’s a reality,” he added. “There’s no substitute for time gone, time gone is gone forever.”