The European Commission president said the Erasmus programme, which facilitates student exchanges so EU nationals can study abroad within the bloc, was “one of the major successes of Europe”.
Speaking at a conference on Spain’s future in the EU, he said: “Until now, only four percent of those eligible to take part in Erasmus did so.
“Nine million students have taken part in Erasmus, and from those one million babies have been born.
“This is the great demographic success of the European Commission.
“We increased the European libido, if I may say so.”
Mr Juncker called for an increase in Erasmus budget in order to bring EU states even closed together and foster more international relationships.
He has long been fond of the programme, which he believes is an antidote to European states’ tendencies to retreat from each other and from the EU.
The EU president believes sending more students abroad will help bring member states closer together, helping achieve his ideal of a federal European state.
The bloc celebrated 30 years of the Erasmus programme in June 2017.
Speaking then, Mr Juncker said he in turn “fell in love anew” with Europe when he travelled across the continent, again hailing the cross-border romances he feels have characterised the programme.
The Commission president’s comments came as the European Union appears increasingly fractured.
In the wake of Brexit, member states including Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have suggested they would like to see elements of the treaties change and improve.
Mr Juncker has also said Brexit is a “lose-lose situation” that could “make Europe a mess”.
The ongoing Brexit negotiations could sow division between member states and leave the treaties in tatters, he has worried aloud.
The chief eurocrat said: “It will be more difficult to keep together the 27 EU member states during the second step of the negotiations because the economic industries, the multinationals, will try to convince their respective governments to say yes to this or that British proposal.”
There are disagreements within the EU27 over whether to offer the UK continued cooperation on banking after it leaves the Brussels bloc, it has been reported.
However, at Mr Juncker’s behest, EU diplomats reportedly agreed not to offer a special deal which resembles Single Market access at a secret seminar on Tuesday.