Massive demonstrations and a rolling strike have hit France in the biggest protest yet against the government's attempt to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62, although Paris insists it will not be moved.

With 3.5 million taking part in the rallies and marches across the country, according to organisers, it beats the 2 million that in 1995 forced a retreat over a similar move and ultimately led to the fall of the government.

Police put the figures at 1.23 million, although in Marseilles, a police union actually attacked the estimate as false, while some police joined the protests in the capital.

Half the flights at Orly Airport and a third of flights at Charles de Gaulle Airport were cancelled. Two thirds of high-speed trains were stilled, although Eurostar reported that its Paris-London service has been uninterrupted.

The country's largest oil port, Fos-Lavera, has been closed for 15 days as a result of industrial action.

(Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair said on Wednesday it would close its only French base at Marseille Airport from January next year following a dispute with French authorities over how its workers are paid.

Europe's biggest low-cost carrier effectively treats the 200 pilots and cabin crew it has working in Marseille as Irish employees -- receiving their pay from Ireland and paying their tax and social insurance contributions to Ireland.

Should read: France ditches Ryanair.

Commission stops short of calling for a ban on building new platforms.

The European Commission wants oil companies to face more stringent safety and financial barriers before they can get permits for offshore drilling, but has stopped short of calling for a ban on building new platforms.

Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for energy, today (13 October) said: "Safety is non-negotiable. We have to make sure that a disaster similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico will never happen in European waters."

He promised that the first-ever EU legislative proposals on oil platforms would be published next year. These would require companies to prove that they have funds to cover the costs of environmental damage in the event of an accident, and to demonstrate that their technical equipment meets the highest-possible standards. The Commission would also like to set up an independent panel of experts to oversee national authorities, to `regulate the regulators', he said.

As it appears that France will miss the 15 October deadline given by the European Commission to prove the legality of its Roma expulsions policy, the EU executive will make its case "stronger" against Paris, EU officials told EurActiv.

 Two days ahead of the deadline set by the Commission, Paris had reportedly "not done much" to abide by the requests. "It's unrealistic that relevant measures will be notified by the deadline," said a Commission source.

France was asked to provide by 15 October the text of a draft law aimed at transposing into national law those elements of a directive on the free movement of EU citizens that are not currently part of French legislation, as exposed by the Roma row between Brussels and Paris (see 'Background').

In a letter seen by EurActiv which EU Justice and Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding sent to the French government at the end of September, she clearly requests the transposition of Articles 27 and 28 of the directive.

These articles regulate expulsions of EU citizens from a member state different from the one of origin, and set out citizens' rights to protect them from expulsions.

A new study has revealed that far-right attitudes are deeply rooted in German society. One-third of Germans would send foreigners home if there weren't enough jobs, while one-sixth think Jews have too much influence.

"Germany is in serious danger of being overrun by foreigners." It's a sentence one would expect to find on an election poster for Germany's far-right NPD party. As it happens, it's a view that is held by over one-third of the German population -- a new survey has revealed that 35.6 percent of Germans agree with the statement.

Additionally, more than 30 percent think that "foreigners come to take advantage of the welfare state" and that when jobs are scarce foreigners should be sent "back to their own country." More than one-tenth would like a "Führer" -- the survey deliberately used the German word for "leader" that is associated with Adolf Hitler -- who would govern the country "with a firm hand" for the benefit of all.

"In the muted but high-stakes war between the EU and Russia to control the gas pipelines from Central Asia to Europe, Moscow has just racked up another point against Brussels," writes La Tribune. Wintershall, a German subsidiary of the chemical colossus BASF, is about to sign on to the South Stream project. "This is another hard knock for Nabucco, the rival gas pipeline project backed by the EU, which was to bypass Russia in transporting gas from Central Asia." According to the French financial daily, "the advent of a German company will end up discrediting this $25bn-plus (€18bn-plus) project". Initiated by Russia's Gazprom, South Stream is backed by the Italian oil and gas utility ENI. In the spring of 2010, the two corporations bolstered the project's European credentials by both pledging to transfer 10% of theirs stakes to the French utility EDF.

Nabucco, on the other hand, appears increasingly unconvincing, adds the French daily, for want of sufficient natural gas reserves to justify its construction. Gazprom has in fact "methodically drained the Central Asian gas reserves by clinching multiple long-term purchase contracts in the region, thereby reducing by as much the volumes that Nabucco could carry". As Pierre Noël, an energy specialist at Cambridge University, explains to La Tribune, "By announcing the construction of the gas pipeline even before securing the gas reserves, Brussels killed the project."

Uefa's Control and Disciplinary Body will decide on punishment on 28 October, and has several sanctions available, ranging from a large fine to disqualification from competitions in progress and/or exclusion from future competitions. Group C leaders Italy are also likely to be awarded a 3-0 walkover victory.

Reports from Serbia yesterday said the riot was an orchestrated demonstration of political violence designed to destabilise the pro-Western government and alienate the country from the rest of Europe.

The drug baron Darko Saric, who is on the run, was allegedly behind the ugly scenes that included thugs fighting with riot police and throwing flares on to the pitch, one of which nearly hit the Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano.