Sarkozy regards an EU economic government as a way to preserve his leadership in the EU beyond France’s Council presidency, which is now ending. Although the Czech Republic will assume the EU presidency in January, this has not prevented the French President from convening a new EU summit under Sarkozy’s leadership in the first half of 2009.
出于这些原因，德国对萨尔科奇主张的欧洲经济政府的主张也持有保留意见，而这一欧洲经济政府也将会主要是由德国不成比例地资助。萨尔科奇把欧盟经济政府视为在法国的欧盟轮值主席结束之后保留其欧盟领导地位的手段。尽管捷克将会在一月担任欧盟轮值主席，但是这并没有阻止法国总统在2009年上半年主持召开一次新的欧盟首脑会议。