Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy came under fire in France and Italy on Friday over comments he made comparing the influx of migrants into Europe to water gushing from a burst pipe, reports Zee News.
Current President François Hollande called for gravity and restraint in public debate.
Prime minister Manuel Valls said that "political life deserves better than such stigmatising phrases."
The comments in question were made by Sarkozy, now head of the opposition Les Républicains, during a public meeting in a Paris suburb.
The former president railed against the European Commission's plan to divide up the asylum seekers arriving in their thousands in the waters off Italy, Greece and Malta aboard rickety, overcrowded boats from North Africa and the Middle East.
He compared the migrant problem to a domestic water leak, using a metaphor to describe his opposition to the EU's plans.