The ‘drink sodden world’ of EU boss sneering at Britain
JEAN- CLAUdE Juncker is often drunk at EU meetings and his unelected former chief of staff is ultimately in charge, according to explosive claims.
The comments by current and former officials came after the EU Commission president was seen stumbling into a Nato gala dinner.
Jean Quatremer, a veteran expert on the EU, quoted a former foreign minister who worked with Mr Juncker as saying: ‘When a bailiff brings him a glass of water at a council of ministers, we all know it’s gin.’
Mr Juncker denies he was drunk at the Nato dinner for world leaders last week and has repeatedly rejected claims he is an alcoholic. He claims he suffers from chronic back and leg pain, described as sciatica, and that it sometimes gives him the appearance of struggling to walk.
But Mr Quatremer claims that Brussels is awash with talk of Mr Juncker’s out-ofcontrol drinking.
‘Numerous people, in Luxembourg, in Brussels and in European capitals, can attest to several examples of Juncker being on the sauce,’ wrote the French journalist. ‘The former Eurogroup presi- dent, Jeroen dijsselbloem of the Netherlands, did not hesitate to describe on dutch television a Luxembourgish man who was often drunk during informal meetings of finance ministers.’
The article, published in The Spectator, also quotes Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, as pointing out that alcohol ‘never prevented Juncker from being functional’.
Mr Quatremer, who has worked for French Left-wing daily newspaper Libération since 1984, suggested that Martin Selmayr, who was made secretary general of the Commission by Mr Juncker, wields ultimate power.
Referring to allegations that Mr Juncker promoted Mr Selmayr – nicknamed ‘the monster’ – without following due process, the journalist wrote: ‘It is no coincidence that he has become totally dependent on Martin Selmayr, his ambitious secretary general and former chief of staff (and architect of his ascent to the head of the EU).
‘No wonder that Juncker tore up the rules of the European civil service to put Selmayr in charge of the whole 33,000-strong apparatus.
‘The deterioration of Juncker combined with the power of Selmayr indicates an unusual setup with the president as the puppet. Pull back the gin-soaked curtain and we may find the real influence is wielded by Selmayr, an unelected and unaccountable Eurocrat.’
Before the Nato dinner last Wednesday Mr Juncker was seen swaying and struggling to gain his balance several times. He showed no signs of grimacing or pain as he walked towards the Royal Art and History Museum in the Parc du Cinquantenaire in Brussels, jovially greeting other leaders.
He stumbled as he mounted the first step of a podium that world leaders gathered on for a group photo, and had to be helped up.
Once on top, two leaders linked arms with him either side to keep him upright before having to help him back down the stairs, at which point he swayed backwards. He later emerged in a wheelchair.
despite this, he flew to Beijing for the EU-China summit and to Tokyo for the EU- Japan summit this week, before flying back to Brussels and then Madrid.
Mr Quatremer wrote: ‘If he genuinely suffers from sciatica, how was he able to visit China and Japan a few days later?
‘Sciatica makes such long-haul flights difficult to envisage. One diplomat jokes that if Juncker does suffer from debilitating back pain, he must be powered by “an uncommon moral force, an ability to withstand suffering for the good of Europe”.’ Several sources say Mr Juncker did not speak during the Nato dinner. during a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, the EU Commission president was quizzed again by journalists about last Wednesday night.
In response he quipped that he had ‘cramp’, before adding: ‘It’s amazing how many people are experts on my medical condition – quite frankly I don’t have time for such petty nonsense.’
Just a few days previously his chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, was again forced to deny Mr Juncker was drunk, telling journalists he had ‘a particularly painful attack of sciatica accompanied by cramps’. Last year Polish MP Krystyna Pawlowicz wrote a letter to the Commission chief accusing him of alcohol dependency.
It came after pictures of Mr Juncker appeared in the Press of him apparently taking a nap in the Vatican during the celebration of the EU’s 60th anniversary.
Publishing her letter on Facebook, she claimed that Mr Juncker’s drinking habits had become a ‘problem for the entire European community’, and that it was ‘unacceptable in the light of the universal cultural norms’. It led to one Polish website calling him ‘Juncker-druncker’.
One MEP told the Mail yesterday: ‘I have only met Mr Juncker four times, and of those on three occasions you could smell the alcohol on him.’
‘You could smell the alcohol on him’