Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images France pledges to improve asylum seekers’ fate, keep economic migrants out New immigration policy will step up fight against ‘illegal’ immigration, says interior minister.

PARIS — France will always remain open to people fleeing “war and persecution” but will draw the line at migrants entering the country for “economic reasons,” French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche published Sunday.

Collomb said that a new immigration law will ensure refugees seeking asylum see their request addressed within six months, while also strengthening the government’s ability to fight “illegal” immigration.

The interior minister also vowed to step up the fight against human traffickers who illegally transport migrants across the Mediterranean, but admitted that French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal to set up "hot spots" in Libya is unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon.

Macron has suggested France set up “hot spots” in the war-torn North African country in order to accelerate the process of sorting out who might be entitled to refugee status.

“That type of initiative cannot be currently considered in Libya, due to the country’s situation,” Collomb said. Most foreign policy experts had similarly cautioned that the plan wasn't credible.

Collomb pledged that the government would try to “reconcile efficiency with generosity” in dealing with asylum requests.

France will create 3,500 new accommodation spaces for asylum seekers next year and 4,000 in 2019, taking the country’s global capacity to 88,000 — double what it was in 2012.

The French government has long tried to soothe the concerns of human rights organization by pledging to build a better system to treat asylum requests, while also reassuring voters that it is serious about wanting to clamp down on illegal immigration.

"Our current standards are not as high as what they should be in France," Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said as he outlined the government’s plans last month.

Collomb didn’t specify in his interview with JDD how the government intended to fight illegal immigration, save for a renewed pledge to cooperate with foreign governments to crack down on traffickers.

The interior minister also said that about 350 migrants remained in the makeshift camp known as the “jungle” in Calais, in the north of France, where thousands of migrants trying to reach the U.K. lived in precarious conditions until the camp was officially dismantled in October last year.

The government intends to build a new refugee center that can accommodate up to 300 people, far from Calais and Dunkirk — another migrant hub — in order to relieve the pressure on both towns’ local councils, Collomb said.