Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard
Role at the time: Chief of Defence of Denmark (General), answering a Wall Street Journal question on camera at the joint press conference of the NATO Military Committee Conference in Copenhagen
Statement summary
At the joint press conference of the NATO Military Committee Conference in Copenhagen on 19 September 2026, Denmark's Chief of Defence, General Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard, answered a Wall Street Journal question about the announced U.S.-Denmark-Greenland agreement by saying he welcomed the agreement and could not comment any more on it. He then described NATO's Arctic Sentry activity and cooperation with U.S. forces in the Arctic.
“With regards to the agreement, [inaudible] welcome the agreement, but I can't comment any more on that.”
Why we used this label
Asked what the announced agreement means from NATO's military perspective, Hyldgaard said the agreement is welcome and that he could not comment any more on it, and he did not address Trump's description or any term of the agreement. The closest competing label is “Defended or excused”, because welcoming the agreement is a form of approval. That loses because the welcome is a single clause he closes off in the same breath, so his own words neither affirm nor dispute the characterization, and what the recording and TV 2 both record is the refusal to say more.