France will not take in more than 30,000 refugees: PM

France will not take in more than 30,000 asylum seekers over the coming two years, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.

In an interview with the state-run France 2 TV channel, Valls said: "France has proposed to welcome 30,000 refugees. It won't be more."

He said France cannot welcome in Europe all those who are fleeing Syria, noting that five million Syrians have been already displaced to Jordan, Turkey, Libya in refugee camps.

According to Valls, it's necessary to implement "hotspots" in Greece and Italy which are struggling to cope with thousands of migrants seeking to cross into Germany, Europe's most prosperous state.

On Wednesday, European leaders meeting in Brussels promised to devote 1 billion euros (1.116 billion U.S. dollars) to Syrian refugees that stay in neighboring Arab countries.

They also decided to implement by November centers to register new arrivals in order to help asylum seekers to be relocated across the European bloc and to send home economic migrants.

Despite objection by several eastern European countries, interior ministers of the European bloc's 28 states on Tuesday agreed to distribute 120,000 refugees across the EU.

In a recent report on migration outlook, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said more than one million people are seeking refuge in Europe this year with up to 450,000 expected to obtain the status of a humanitarian migrant and eventually settle down in the continent.

More than 330,000 migrants arrived by sea in Europe in the first eight months of 2015, including 210,000 in Greece and 120,000 in Italy, it added. (1 euro = 1.116 U.S. dollars) Endit