French President Nicolas Sarkozy often thinks about whether to run for a second term in 2012, his wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, said on Wednesday.

Sarkozy, who was elected in 2007, has yet to say whether he will seek a second five-year term and has given himself until the second half of 2011 to make up his mind.

Asked if Sarkozy had sought her opinion on running again for the presidency, Bruni-Sarkozy told reporters: "He asks for my opinion about many things, as many husbands and wives do.

"But as far as that decision is concerned, it's a choice that is up to him alone," she said.

"I think he reflects a lot about it, but I'm not going to get involved. It's too important, too difficult, too personal for me to get involved. But I will follow him whatever he does," she added.

Sarkozy, his popularity ratings hovering close to record lows, is fighting to regain public confidence after pushing through an unpopular pension reform in October.

His entourage is drumming up support for a second bid and the opposition has accused him of governing as though he were already on the campaign trail.

Asked if she wanted to remain France's first lady after 2012, Bruni-Sarkozy said: "He was the one elected by the French, all that depends on him. I would be glad (to stay)."

The catwalk star-turned-chanteuse and Sarkozy married in February 2008, four months after Sarkozy divorced his second wife.