Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande are now alone at the top table, and there are no prizes for guessing who is drawing up the seating plan.
The far-right Front National leads after the first round of voting, leaving Hollande and Sarkozy with some thinking to do.
President Francois Hollande has ordered the French military to prepare to launch air strikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria.
European and US leaders are pushing for a new peace deal in eastern Ukraine, as fighting escalates between the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists.
Jihadi militants with links to the Islamic State (IS) have beheaded a French tourist they kidnapped last Sunday in Algeria.