National Defence committee  You're quite right that in the EU they have percentage votes. We have no qualified majority voting, so which water glasses to buy has to go to a committee, and everyone has to agree, which doesn't always make things work efficiently.

National Defence committee  Consensus is required. Let's put it that way.

National Defence committee  Yes. NATO is not involved in the Arctic. It has a very clear position. Some allies would like to see a discussion on the Arctic within NATO. There are others who do not wish to see that discussion take place, so it does not take place. Coming back to your discussion of decisions, it takes consensus to have that issue on the agenda.

National Defence committee  In a general sense?

National Defence committee  I mentioned this with your colleague. The secretary general has pushed very hard on intelligence fusion, first to improve the confidence that allies have in the systems within NATO, so they're more likely to give it, and that's been done; second, to actually improve the sharing among them, and that's been done; but third, to fuse civilian and military intelligence and provide allies with much more timely and therefore much more relevant intelligence.

National Defence committee  I think we need to first not advance time for a moment, because the current Ukrainian government has chosen what is in essence non-aligned status and revoked their desire to want to join. That's the position we're in now. Second, there are fundamental concerns, as you've noted, about the state of democracy.

National Defence committee  I can give you four points. One is, yes, we are first and foremost now reinforcing our own systems, including the systems connecting NATO to national systems, including this country's. Second, we've created what's called a centre of excellence in Estonia where we bring together the experts who can, first, provide best practices and support allies, but who can also support partners.

National Defence committee  Thank you. There are three countries that are formally on track, and a fourth, which is basically as we discussed, Georgia, and a decision has already been taken. For Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which I will henceforth call Macedonia, for reasons which you'll understand, the situation is as follows.

National Defence committee  The fact that we reduced the number of these warheads in Europe by more than 90%, as I pointed out, shows that they are indeed paramount to our strategy. Russia, however, is maintaining them. We believe we could bring down this number much further, but we need to discuss it with the Russians, and, as I said, they are not yet willing to address that with us.

National Defence committee  I am not sure whether the topic will be discussed in Chicago, but I am certain it will appear in the documents.

National Defence committee  I did not say that Canada didn't have the authority to reduce or not reduce one of those aspects. It is up to Canada to decide what it wants to do. I said that Canada has a range of capabilities that are very valuable to NATO. We do not want Canada to abandon its arms and focus on just one thing.

National Defence committee  That's a very fundamental question. As NATO gets bigger, you have more countries that have slightly different priorities. Let's put it that way. The countries in the south look at the Mediterranean and want to ensure that it's peaceful so they want to reach out there. The countries that have had, let's say, more mixed relations with Russia are still concerned about Russia and want to ensure that NATO builds that relationship and can maintain its strong defence.

National Defence committee  I would say this: sometimes, and more and more, keeping yourself safe at home means going to the problem before it comes to you. That's why we are in Afghanistan. Frankly, the problem came to us. We need to make sure we don't get more problems from there. It's not just that kind of problem.

National Defence committee  You used the word “prefer”. That's the right word. NATO will always look to the UN for a mandate for expeditionary operations. Except for a moment of the Kosovo operation, that has always been the case. NATO does not need the mandate of the United Nations to operate. Certainly, when it comes to the defence of an ally, it has a treaty obligation to each other, which does not require UN mandates.

National Defence committee  It's like Jeopardy. I love this.