“We are shocked by the images of women at Europe's borders. Each migrant must be treated with respect and humanely. We can not accept the statements, nor the attitudes, nor the barbed wire,” Valls told reporters in Stockholm.

   

“And even less the selection (of refugees) based on religion,” he added at a joint press conference with his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven.

   

Several countries, as well as the United Nations, have criticised Budapest's policy towards refugees and the violence used against them at Hungary's southern border with Serbia.

   

Echoing his remarks, Lofven said: “It is not okay to say 'as long as they're not Muslims'. That is an entirely unacceptable expression.”

   

Valls said the continent would not be able to cope unless everyone pulled together.

   

“If there's not a Europe-wide response, we will not be able to handle it,” he said.

   

The bloc has been severely divided over an EU plan for compulsory quotas which would enable the fair and equitable distribution of 120,000 refugees.

   

According to a French government official, Hungary and Slovakia are blocking the plan, although several other states, mostly in the east, have also opposed the quota system.

   

Record numbers of refugees have arrived in Sweden in recent weeks, peaking when 5,200 were registered in a single week, the highest number since June 1992 when around 5,000 were registered in a week during the Bosnian war.