Europe's big three have called for an emergency meeting between European leaders to work out a coordinated strategy on handling the unprecedented flow of refugees.

The interior ministers of the UK, Germany and France on Sunday called on the Presidency of the Council of the European Union to organize a "meeting of justice and interior ministers within the next two weeks, so as to find concrete steps" to manage the escalating refugee crisis.

The call came after Germany's Thomas de Maiziere, Britain's Theresa May and France's Bernard Cazeneuve spoke Saturday on the sidelines of a meeting in Paris on security issues.

The European powers "underlined the necessity to take immediate action to deal with the challenge from the migrant influx."

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday that refugees arriving in Europe should be welcomed and registered as quickly as possible.

Refugees who "are fleeing war, persecution, torture, oppression, must be welcomed," he said, adding, "Each asylum request must be examined rapidly."

European apathy

European leaders are undecided on how to manage the refugee crisis, and have been shifting the responsibility of handling the unprecedented influx of refugees fleeing war and persecution in their homeland to one another.

Italy and Greece are the destination of most of the asylum seekers.

The United Nations estimates that some 160,000 refugees have landed in Greece since the beginning of the year with 50,000 having arrived in the past month alone.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told leaders of the European Union last month to stop buck passing and devise a unified mechanism to deal with the record refugee arrivals.

"If that's your idea of Europe, you can keep it. Either give us solidarity or don't waste our time," Renzi said.