Jean-Claude Juncker has said claims Theresa May “begged” him for help in the Brexit talks are incorrect.
The President of the European Commission said on Monday “nothing is true” in a German newspaper story that reported details of a dinner he held with the prime minister last week.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) said it had been told May “begged for help” on Brexit, seemed “anxious” and “tormented” as well as “despondent and discouraged”.
Asked by the BBC in Brussels about the report, Juncker denied the leak came from him.
“No, never. I am really surprised - if not shocked - about what has been written in the German press. And of course repeated by the British press,” he said.
“Nothing is true in all of this. I had an excellent working dinner with Theresa May. She was in good shape, she was not tired, she was fighting as is her duty so everything for me was ok.”
Asked if May had pleaded with him to help in the negotiations, Juncker added: “No, that’s not the style of British prime ministers.”
Juncker’s chief of staff Martin Selmayr also denied accusations he was the source of the FAZ story.
Earlier this year, Selmayr was accused of leaking to FAZ details of a private dinner between May and Juncker at Downing Street, which the Commission president was said to have left “10 times more sceptical” than when he arrived.