The head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen believes that the topic of Nord Stream 2 should be “reintegrated into a broader issue” of relations with Russia. According to her, the EU previously viewed the pipeline as an economic project, but she believes that it is at the same time "highly political."

      “For a long time we have professed a purely economic approach to this topic. I am convinced that this is also a highly political project... Russia is not going to change its approach because of this infrastructure. Therefore, we must reintegrate this topic into the broader issue of our relations with Moscow,” the head of the EC said in an interview with several media (quoted from Les Echos). In her opinion, there is a diminishing hope that relations with Moscow will develop in connection with the project. Ursula von der Leyen believes that "Russia's behavior has not improved and even tends to deteriorate."