EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured today in the Eurpoean Parliamnet in Strasbourg) has dismissed rumours he is an alcoholic, claiming he appears drunk when walking because of injuries sustained in an accident

EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker has dismissed rumours he is an alcoholic, claiming he appears drunk when walking because of injuries sustained in a car accident.

During an interview with a French newspaper to set the record straight, the European Commission president downed four glasses of champagne.

But the 61-year-old former prime minister of Luxembourg said: ‘You’d think I’d still be in office if I was having cognac for breakfast?’

Mr Juncker said the persistent rumours about him being drunk had even caused problems in his marriage.

He told Liberation: ‘It really makes me sad and it has even led my wife to question if I lie to her, as I do not drink when I'm home.’

Mr Juncker, who is also a heavy smoker, said whispers about him having a drinking problem had begun after he staggered at a meeting of EU ministers.

‘I have a balance problem with my left leg that requires me to grab the rail when on a staircase,’

‘After a lunch I grabbed a Dutch minister by the arm and he said that I was drunk.

‘This problem goes back to a serious car accident. In 1989, I spent three weeks in a coma, and then six months in a wheelchair.’

At EU summits, Mr Juncker has become known for his jovial greetings of leaders that have included kissing their bald spots and slapping Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban across the face and shouting ‘Hi dictator’.

Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured in the European Parliament in Strasbourg today) downed four glasses of champagne in an interview with French newspaper Liberation

‘Orban, I always call dictator,’ Mr Juncker said. ‘I am like this. As soon as someone breaks the mould they are obviously crazy or an alcoholic.’

French journalist Jean Quatremer, who conducted the interview, said Mr Juncker glugged four glasses of champagne during the course of their light lunch.

He recalled how during a previous meeting when Mr Juncker was prime minister of Luxembourg, he had drunk three straight glasses of cognac at the end of a meal where he had enjoyed many glasses of white wine.

Mr Juncker has also been plagued by rumours of ill health since he admitted he was suffering from kidney stones, but yesterday he insisted he is no longer unwell.

‘In June 2015, I was treated and since then I have been very well, thank you,’ he said.

He insisted that his only current ‘personal problem’ is fatigue, adding: ‘Being president of the European Commission is not the same as being prime minister of Luxembourg. I have to work fourteen, fifteen hours a day and that I was not used to,’ he said.

Mr Juncker dismissed criticism that he does not have as busy a schedule as predecessors. ‘I should publish my appointments, all my phone calls, inform the press of the least of my movements to show that I work? This is ridiculous,’ he said.

In the wake of the Brexit vote, EU countries including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Estonia called for his resignation, but Mr Juncker denounced this as a ‘destabilisation campaign’.

The EU faces a 'battle for survival' following the shock Brexit vote, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured in the European Parliament in Strasbourg) warned today

He was in Strasbourg today to give his State of the Union address to the European Parliament.

He warned the EU faces a 'battle for survival' following the shock Brexit vote and pointed to the murder of a Polish man on the streets in Britain as evidence of what happened when nationalism was allowed to fester in society.

The unpopular EU leader also told Britain there would be no 'a la carte' access to the single market after Brexit and said the UK would have to continue signing up to freedom of movement rules if it wanted to carry on tariff-free trade with EU countries.

Mr Juncker warned there was a danger of other EU member states following Britain out of the exit door as he acknowledged the next 12 months would be critical for the bloc.

The rise of nationalism across the continent threatened the very existence of the EU, he added.

And he admitted there was too much rivalry and squabbling between EU institutions, telling colleagues they must 'do away with old spats'.

Significantly, Mr Juncker referred to the shocking rise in hate crime directed towards Polish migrants in the UK since June's Brexit vote, including the tragic death of Arkadiusz Jozwik (pictured), a 40-year-old Polish man who was killed in a suspected hate crime in Essex last month. He said the EU must be robust in its response to the rising evidence of racism in the UK and other European countries, saying: 'The Europeans can never accept – never – Polish workers being harassed, beaten, beaten up or even murdered in the streets of Essex'

Significantly, Mr Juncker referred to the shocking rise in hate crime directed towards Polish migrants in the UK since June's Brexit vote, including the tragic death of Arkadiusz Jozwik, a 40-year-old Polish man who was killed in Essex last month.

Police are treating the attack as a possible hate crime and six teenagers, aged 15 and 16, have been arrested and released on bail.

He said the EU must be robust in its response to the rising evidence of racism in the UK and other European countries, saying: 'The Europeans can never accept – never – Polish workers being harassed, beaten, beaten up or even murdered in the streets of Essex.'

He defended the EU's open borders immigration policy, adding: 'The free movement of workers is as much a common European value as our fight against discrimination and racism.'

Warning of the existential threat to the EU - and admitting the EU was facing a 'crisis' - Mr Juncker told European politicians the world was looking to see if the bloc would survive after Brexit

He said: 'I believe the next 12 months are decisive if we want to reunite our Europe, if we want to overcome the divisions between East and West, which have opened up in recent months.

'If we want to show that – that we can be fast on things that really want – if we want to show to the world that Europe is still a force capable of joint action, we have to get to work.'

Police are treating the attack as a possible hate crime and six teenagers, aged 15 and 16, have been arrested and released on bail. Police released CCTV footage of witnesses after the incident

Arkadiusz Jozwik was beaten up by a group of thugs outside shops in The Stow, Essex, at around 11.35pm on August 27. Pictured, still images from the CCTV footage

Mr Juncker was delivering his key speech to MEPs this morning ahead of a crucial summit of 27 EU heads of states in Bratislava, Slovakia at the end of the week.

Theresa May will not be attending the key summit due to Britain's vote to leave the bloc but Mr Juncker told reiterated this morning that the European Commission wants the UK to trigger Article 50 - the formal process of leaving the EU - as soon as possible.

He insisted the EU 'respects and regrets' the decision of Britain to leave the EU but insisted the Brexit vote along did not put the EU 'at risk'.

He told Britain: 'There can be no a la carte access to the single market.'

He also called on the UK Government to trigger Article 50 - the formal process for leaving the EU - as soon as possible.

The European Commission announced a Brexit Task Force today to head up negotiations with the UK.

It will be 'composed of the Commission's best and brightest,' Mr Juncker said and will be led by former French Commissioner Michel Barnier, who was dubbed the 'scourge of the City' for the swathes of financial regulation he imposed on London.