In , he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in to obtain information and spending beyond legal campaign funding limits during his re-election campaign. He won the French presidential election by a During his term, he faced the financial crisis of β , the lates recession , and the European sovereign debt crisis , the Russo-Georgian War for which he negotiated a ceasefire , and the Arab Spring especially in Tunisia , Libya , and Syria. He initiated the reform of French universities and the pension reform After leaving the presidential office, Sarkozy vowed to retire from public life before coming back in and being reelected as UMP leader renamed The Republicans in Being defeated at the Republican presidential primary in , he retired from public life.
He was charged with corruption by French prosecutors in two cases, notably concerning the alleged Libyan interference in the French elections. In , Sarkozy was convicted of corruption in two separate trials. His first conviction resulted in him receiving a sentence of three years, two suspended, and one in prison; he appealed against the ruling.
He received a one-year sentence for his second conviction, which he is allowed to serve under home confinement. In May , Sarkozy lost an appeal against his corruption conviction. During Sarkozy's childhood, his father founded his own advertising agency and became wealthy. The family lived in a mansion owned by Sarkozy's maternal grandfather, Benedict Mallah, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. According to Sarkozy, his staunchly Gaullist grandfather was more of an influence on him than his father, whom he rarely saw.
Sarkozy was raised Catholic. Sarkozy said that being kept at a distance by his father shaped much of who he is today. He also has said that, in his early years, he felt inferior to his wealthier and taller classmates. Paris X Nanterre had been the starting place for the May '68 student movement and was still a stronghold of leftist students. Described as a quiet student, Sarkozy soon joined the right-wing student organization, in which he was very active.
After graduating from university, Sarkozy entered Sciences Po , where he studied between and , but failed to graduate [ 12 ] due to an insufficient command of the English language. After passing the bar , Sarkozy became a lawyer specializing in business and family law [ 9 ] and was one of Silvio Berlusconi 's French lawyers.
