France wants lasting, dignified solutions to migration crisis

PARIS - Under pressure from its European neighbors to handle the surge in migrants flows, the French government called for lasting alternatives and to welcome refugees "with dignity."

"Those fleeing wars, persecution, torture, dictatorships must be welcomed, it is a universal principle underlying humanity," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.

Speaking on Sunday at the closing ceremony of the Socialist Party (PS)'s summer university in La Rochelle, southwestern France, Valls urged the swift study of asylum demand.

"Our duty is to find lasting responses based on humanity principles, responsibility and firmness," he said.

"There is also an irregular labor migration and to deal with that, we need strict rules ... the Schengen area is not only the abolition of borders between member states, it is also controlling our external frontiers and to forget to do so, borders will be be endangered," the French premier added.

In a recent interview with local broadcaster Europe 1, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius denounced the "scandalous" refugee policy of eastern Europe, referring to Hungary's building of a fence to keep migrants from crossing into it's territory.