He won the 2007 French presidential election by a 53.1% to 46.9% margin against Socialist Ségolène Royal. During his term, he faced the financial crisis of 2007–2008 (causing a recession, 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 (2007) and the pension reform (2010). He married Italian-French singer-songwriter Carla Bruni in 2008 at the Élysée Palace in Paris.