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Mira Kamdar provides this first hand account of life in Pantin, France, in March 2015, a banlie on the northeastern outskirts of Paris, postal code 93. She describes the exceptional effort of Mayor Kern to bring the community together for a brighter future, and the plans to better integrate Paris with the suburbs.

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Kylian Mbappe is from Bondy, one of the northern suburbs of Paris. Ayoub Simour and Angelique Chrisafis give this report from Bondy and the Banlieu immigrant communities of France that have been wrongly stigmatized. Mbappe grew up here, with a Cameroonian father who was a soccer coach and Algerian mother who was a professional handball player. This is one of the poorest areas of France and one of the youngest. Both parents were youth workers. Football has put a smile on every face here after the troubles of the pandemic. Mbappe says "our neighborhood is an incredible melting pot of different cultures." Mbappe tells Sports Illustrated that he learned "values" and "respect" in the banlieu.

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Kingsley Coman walked through the doors of PSG's Academy when he was 8 years old, and walked out 10 years later unwanted scored the only goal of the Champions league final in Lisbon between Paris PSG club and Munich Bayern club. A kid from the banlieus, the suburbs of immigrants around Paris undoing the billion dollar club of Paris PSG. People in Paris were astounded and a bit angry. The coach of Bayern Munich Mr. Flick is also a student of Zidane the French coach of Real Madrid in his approach of emphasizing home grown talent and younger players who are promising rather than depend on big names like Neymar or Messi.

Alphonso Davies is a immigrant from Ghana, and other younger young players such as Kimmich were the key additions to the talent of Muller for Bayern.

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Fears in France about multiculturalism presumably of the Anglo-Saxon type with ethnic communities living separately side by side. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, says in his recent book that the French are not like Anglo-Saxons with communities of ethnic people living next to each other but not mixing. This is not true of London and New York, or Melbourne, say people on the other side. Comments by prime minister Valls similiar to Sarkozy's are interpreted by experts in French history as reflecting France's predominant political language of Republicanism and fear of fragmentation. These issues have come up as immigrants issues have led to movements such as for Brexit, and the Trump campaign in the U.S. with anti-immigrant sentiment. The French like to see themselves in a different light though the banlieus are as much a fact of life in France as segregated communities in the U.S. and Britain, say observers.

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This exceptional report from rural areas in France by Roger Cohen shows why the support is growing for the far right and the far left in rural areas and smaller towns outside the large cities which have suffered from high unemployment and neglected as technology and capital moved to other areas. Cohen talks to Nicholas Bay, secretary general of the National Front, who says this election is about patriotism, the nation state vs globalization, as the National Front tries to portray its opposition as being less pro-France, and less pro French culture. The centrist candidate Macron stands in front of a statue of Alexandre Dumas in Picardy, an hour northeast of Paris, and says he is for an "open patriotism" that embraces people of different origins and embraces refugees. Cohen attends a Le Pen rally in Metz, Lorraine, talks to a National Front mayor in Picardy and left party supporters in the town, talks to foreigners in the banlieu of Sevran. Cohen says a National Front victory is possible if enough voters who support the far left party of Melenchon do not vote for centrist candidate Macron, and enough voters of centre right Fillon supporting French culture and nationalism drift to Le Pen. As in the Dutch election with Moroccans derided by the far right the immigrant issue is a factor. Against this background is how events play out in the last weeks of the election. In March and April the events in the U.S. show a Trump administration moving to the centre, adopting a quieter and more constructive tone towards Mexico and immigrants. Relations with Russia have worsened after the U.S. response to the chemical attack in Syria, and the French public may now see this as a common threat to NATO and the European Union. As in the Dutch election a lot depends on the last weeks of the election and how well the centrist parties, the centre right and the centre left get their message across about what is to be gained by building anew on the foundations of the past without risking a lot on an uncertain path of referendums and exit from the European Union.   ...

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Key recommendations of a parliamentary inquiry in France into the Paris terrorist attacks are- the creation of a new intelligence agency, pulling together three elite forces GIGN, Raid, and BRI, more security measures for airports, and improvements to the judicial and prison system where potential terrorists are further radicalized. The extensive investigation concluded that France was not prepared for the attacks.

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Ms. Vallaud Belkacem is Education minister in the Socialist government of president Hollande in France. She grew up as a poor Moroccan immigrant in a poor neighborhood of Abbeville, in northern France. Her husband is Boris Vallaud, deputy chief of staff for president Hollande.

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The head of France's intelligence service says France faces a threat from radicalized Muslims inside the country, and from French citizens who are fighting in Syria and Iraq returning to the country. While the number of Americans going to Syria or Iraq is said to be declining this is not the case with France.