You can see the French Press Review with James Creedon every weekday morning at 7.10am, Paris time.

The Clearstream trial heats up today with former French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, in the dock. He will be questioned on his role in a smear campaign which saw Nicolas Sarkozy accused of taking kickbacks from arms sales to Taiwan.

Libération focuses on the ten big questions that await Villepin. What was the exact nature of his connection with Jean-Louis Gergorin, a defence industry chief who is a central figure in the smear campaign? Did Villepin ask Gergorin for documents related to Clearstream? Worse still, did he give instructions to Gergorin and Imad Lahoud, an IT expert, to falsify the list of names of those holding accounts at the Clearstream financial holding company? More specifically, did Villepin specifically target Nicolas Sarkozy?

The editorial says that today’s questioning of Villepin will mark a turning point in the trial. If - as Villepin says - he is guilty of nothing, than he will have nothing to fear in today’s questioning. On the other hand, could we see his carefully constructed image of a man hunted down by Nicolas Sarkozy begin to fall apart?

Other stories covered in today’s press review:

Le Figaro: The Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë rules himself out of the Presidential race in 2012.

Aujourd’hui en France/ Le Parisien: Jamal Dati is to release a book on the 7th October called "In the shadow of Rachida". The book is highly critical of his sister, the former Justice Minister, Rachida Dati.

Le Figaro: The crisis has turned the Irish into europhiles.