The European Commission presented today a proposal to allow countries in the passport-free Schengen area to reintroduce border controls for security reasons for up to three years.

Currently, countries can reintroduce border checks for up to 30 days with the possibility of extension to six months.

"Under today's proposals, member states will also be able to exceptionally prolong controls if the same threat persists," the Commission said in a statement.

It proposes that the six-month period be extended to a year, and two years if there is a threat to borders such as Europe's migration crisis. A decision on this must be made at the EU level.

The Slovenian Interior Ministry told the STA that Slovenia understood that the Schengen rules must be made more flexible due to the persisting security threats, but has certain reservations.

According to the ministry, the objective criteria for reintroducing border controls are very general and could not be measured objectively. The same applies to the detailed report that a member state must draw up before requesting for this option.

Slovenia also believes that the role of the countries that are affected by another member's decision to reintroduce border checks in the decision making is too small.

The decision on the inclusion of affected states in the process is left to the member state which wants to introduce border control and the Commission, the ministry explained.

Slovenia, meanwhile, agrees with the provision that the decision on the extension of the border control after the one-year period is made by the European Council.

However, before making the final decision member states should be given the option to study the reasons and exchange views, the ministry said.

It also raised the issue of the implementation of rules in practice.