French President Nicolas Sarkozy said during a prime time interview that his wife, former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is “a woman with a lot of intelligence” who helps him a great deal.

“I have the luck of having a family that surrounds me and supports me,” Mr Sarkozy said during a television interview otherwise focused on the rest of his mandate to 2012.

“When you’re lucky enough to be married to a woman who has a lot of intelligence, it would be a great shame not to listen, not to discuss, and that helps me a lot,” he said.

“I have to listen, and at the same time, I have to admit that on the big subjects, I’m becoming less easy to influence, because... I believe there are things that France must do.”

Mr Sarkozy married Bruni, his third wife, in February 2008.