Roundup: French gov't wants lasting, dignified solutions to fix migration crisis

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.

"Hungary is not respecting Europe's common values so the European authorities need to have a serious discussion, even a stern discussion with its officials," he added.

Frances' top diplomat also denounced the ways media is reporting on migrants which they considered as "merchandise, products," adding "we should always keep not only in mind but also in heart that they are men, women and children with their suffering, their hope."

To Phillipe Douste-Blazy, special adviser to the UN Secretary General and also a former French foreign minister, the migration crisis in Europe was a "catastrophe."

"We have to go back to the the darkest days of World War II to see conditions like these ...," he told the news channel BFMTV on Sunday.

"Migrants come because they are fleeing extreme poverty which leads to corruption, violence, and civil war and we are responsible because we have always known that there are now two billion people on earth who earn less than 1.50 dollars a day," Douste-Blazy said.

According to the former French top diplomat, the solution is not building walls. Rather, he argued that if "food, education, drinking water, health, and toiletries are developed for every human being in the world, there will be much less migration."

European interior and justice ministers will discuss immigration in an urgent conference scheduled for Sept. 14 in Brussels "in order to assess the situation on the ground, ongoing political actions and to discuss new initiatives to strengthen the European response" to the flow of migrants. Endit