The Centre has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of the Interior for cutting back its current call centres from 15 to between three and seven. If the proposal is approved by the Ministry, the final decision will be taken by Parliament.
Emergency Response Centre directors say that the organisation is running four million euros in the red annually, and that by 2009 the money will run out, unless drastic staff cuts are made or the state government increases funding significantly.
Even now, hotline response centres are suffering from a lack of staff.
The current network of 15 call centres is the result of a complete re-organisation of the system which took place from 2001 to 2006. During this period, local hotlines at police and fire stations were united into a smaller network of national call centres.
