Brussels (AFP)
The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has returned hastily to Luxembourg to undergo "the urgent removal of the gallbladder," said Saturday the European executive.
Juncker, 64, has "shortened" his vacation in Austria and "was repatriated to Luxembourg to undergo urgent removal of the gall bladder," says the institution in a very short statement.
The Luxembourg man, a seasoned European politician at the head of the Commission since 2014 and whose term ends at the end of October, was also Prime Minister of his country from 1995 to 2013.
The G7 meeting in Biarritz, on August 24th and 25th, is on his fall agenda. The new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is determined to leave the EU on the new date of 31 October, whether or not he has succeeded in renegotiating the withdrawal agreement, will also be present at the G7.
The gall bladder is a pear-shaped organ located below the liver, which stores bile. Ablation, or cholecystectomy, is a fairly common procedure for calculating stones.
In the run-up to the end of his term of office - to be held on the same day as the expected date of the Brexit - Jean-Claude Juncker has in recent talks with the European press referred to a heavy quinquennium, crossed many crises, like the Greek debt, the migration issue or the decision of the British to leave the EU.
He is also known to have serious back problems, which sometimes prevent him from moving normally.
Germany's Ursula von der Leyen will succeed her on 1 November.
© 2019 AFP