French PM says Europe cannot take in more refugees

European countries cannot accept any more refugees, the French prime minister has been quoted as saying.

Manuel Valls said stricter control of the EU's external borders would determine the bloc's fate, in comments published by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Europe's border controls have come under renewed scrutiny since the attacks in Paris on 13 November.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has said that the Schengen agreement is "partly comatose".

Several EU countries have imposed border controls in recent week - despite the Schengen system of passport-free movement - amid the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom are fleeing Syria and Iraq.

Some countries imposed new restrictions after a forged Syrian passport was found next to the body of one of the perpetrators involved in the Islamic State attacks on the French capital.

Prime Minister Valls told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung Europe had been stretched beyond its limits by the refugee crisis.

"We cannot accommodate any more refugees in Europe, that's not possible," he said, adding that tighter control of Europe's external borders was needed.

"If we don't do that, the people will say: 'Enough of Europe'," Valls warned.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has meanwhile stressed the importance of a controversial plan to redistribute asylum seekers based on quotas, according to Reuters.

She said the future of the Schengen agreement would be determined by the relocation scheme.