German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande called Monday for a "unified" response to the worst refugee crisis to hit the EU since World War II.

"We must put in place a unified system for the right to asylum," Hollande said in a brief statement ahead of talks, calling the influx from the world's crisis zones "an exceptional situation that will last for some time".

Merkel, whose country expects a record 800,000 asylum applications this year, said Germany and France also expected all EU members to conform with existing refugee policies governing the bloc "as quickly as possible".