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| EU's Jean-Claude Juncker filmed stumbling at Nato event | EU's Jean-Claude Juncker filmed stumbling at Nato event |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Footage has emerged showing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker having to be supported by Nato leaders after repeatedly stumbling. | Footage has emerged showing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker having to be supported by Nato leaders after repeatedly stumbling. |
| Mr Juncker, 63, was filmed by news agency AP struggling to keep his balance before a gala dinner in Brussels, Belgium. | Mr Juncker, 63, was filmed by news agency AP struggling to keep his balance before a gala dinner in Brussels, Belgium. |
| This is not the first time he has been filmed unsteady on his feet. | This is not the first time he has been filmed unsteady on his feet. |
| The former prime minister of Luxembourg has previously blamed sciatica, which can cause numbness in the legs. | The former prime minister of Luxembourg has previously blamed sciatica, which can cause numbness in the legs. |
| Pictures taken the same night show Mr Juncker being brought into the dinner in a wheelchair. | Pictures taken the same night show Mr Juncker being brought into the dinner in a wheelchair. |
| According to VRT, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte, one of the leaders seen supporting Mr Juncker, told reporters he was unaware of any "serious health problems" but said he was aware the 63-year-old had "had a back problem for a while". | According to VRT, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte, one of the leaders seen supporting Mr Juncker, told reporters he was unaware of any "serious health problems" but said he was aware the 63-year-old had "had a back problem for a while". |
| A European Commission spokeswoman said she would not comment on personal health issues. | A European Commission spokeswoman said she would not comment on personal health issues. |
| At the start of a speech to the Irish parliament last month Mr Juncker blamed his rather wobbly steps on sciatica. | |
| "I have some difficulties to walk. I am not drunk. I have sciatica. I would prefer to be drunk. Hah!" | |
| The UK's NHS website says sciatica symptoms can include pain, numbness or tingling in the buttocks, legs and feet. It is caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve. | |
| Juncker denies 'drink rumours' | |
| In 2016 Mr Juncker dismissed speculation that he had an alcohol problem, in an interview with Brussels commentator Jean Quatremer in the French daily Liberation. | |
| Mr Juncker said such "rumours" were part of a "destabilisation campaign" by opponents. | |
| Quatremer wrote that "during our recent lunch he downed four glasses of champagne to go with just a salad". | |
| He then quoted Mr Juncker as saying: "Do you think I'd still be in my job if I was hitting the cognac at breakfast time?" "One can excuse a politician anything but not alcoholism," Mr Juncker added. | |
| The rumours, Mr Juncker explained, were triggered by "a balance problem I have with my left leg, which forces me to grip the handrail when I'm on the stairs". He said the problem "goes back to a serious car accident - in 1989 I spent three weeks in a coma, then six months in a wheelchair". |