“We cannot…accept all the refugees…fleeing the terrible war in Iraq or Syria. Otherwise our societies will be totally destabilized,” Valls told the BBC broadcaster.
“If Europe is not capable of protecting its own borders, it’s the very idea of Europe that will be questioned…The concept of Europe that our founding fathers had, yes it is in very grave danger,” Valls said in the interview.
Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries to escape violence and poverty.
EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.55 million illegal border crossings in 2015. The Schengen agreement on freedom of movement inside the block has been jeopardized, since a number of EU member states re-imposed border controls last year in a bid to stop the inflow of refugees.
