Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa KOGF GCB (French: ( listen); born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra from 16 May 2007 until 15 May 2012.
Born in Paris, his family is of Greek and Hungarian origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine from 1983 to 2002, he was Minister of the Budget under Prime Minister Édouard Balladur (1993–1995) during François Mitterrand's second term. During Jacques Chirac's second presidential term he served as Minister of the Interior except between March 2004 and May 2005 when he was Minister of Finances. He was the leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party (2004–2007) before winning the French presidential election, 2007 by a 53.1% to 46.9% margin to Socialist Ségolène Royal.
During his term, he faced the late-2000s financial crisis (causing a recession and the European sovereign debt crisis) and the Arab Spring (especially in Tunisia, Libya, and Syria). He married Italian-French singer-songwriter Carla Bruni on 2 February 2008 at the Élysée Palace in Paris. In foreign affairs, Sarkozy promised a strengthening of the entente cordiale with the United Kingdom and closer cooperation with the United States.