Paris is no longer the ultimate mecca for ambitious young French from the prov ? ­ inces ; cities around the country are attracting young professionals who want to escape the more frenetic life in the Ile de France ; the number of agricultural workers has shrunk dramatically ; industrial and high-tech centers have sprung up around the country ; provincial cities are developing their own international reputations ; and immigration and increasing migration of populations within a border-free Euro ? ­ pean Union are blurring the edges of the French identity .
Paris is being competed with by Lyon and Bordeaux .