EU states could take more genuine refugees from Syria if they worked together better, BBC cited the new head of the UN refugee agency as saying.

Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi, who took over the post from Portugal's Antonio Guterres this year, was speaking on a visit to Lebanon.

Grandi also urged the EU to do more for Syrian refugees outside Europe.

The new UN High Commissioner for Refugees has been meeting refugees in camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

Speaking to BBC, Grandi said: "Europe can absorb more genuine refugees if it would be better organized among the different member-states.

"However, we understand the predicament. It is a social and political predicament which is very serious."

The EU is drawing up plans to share the "burden" of refugees more evenly among member states, scrapping a controversial rule that means they must claim asylum in the first country they arrive in.

Grandi also urged the EU to "do more for the countries of first asylum" so there would be "less motivation for people to flee further away".