Smoking ban to be expanded

Brussels calls for expansion smoking and vaping ban on the terraces of bars and restaurants, swimming pools, parks and bus stops.

On Tuesday, the European Commission asked governments to extend the smoking ban to certain outdoor places where non-smokers are particularly at risk, such as bar and restaurant terraces, playgrounds and swimming pools, or bus stops. At the same time, it advocates applying the veto to new products such as e-cigarettes, whether or not they contain nicotine.

“In the European Health Union, we have a duty to protect our citizens, especially children and young people, from exposure to smoke and harmful emissions,” — Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakidis warned in a statement, in which she also stressed the shared commitment to achieving a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040. The recommendation is not binding, the European Commission said in a statement…

Greece passed a law banning smoking in public places back in 2013, and in 2016 it was equated ban on smoking regular cigarettes and “smoking” electronic cigarettes(vaping) in public places. It helped little, however allowed to collect substantial amounts of fines at first. In 2019, the fine amount was increased to absurd levels 10,000 euros, and then simply gave up on the matter.

In 2023, they remembered the holes in the budget and adopted this the law againonce again tightening the penalties. Now smoking cigarettes will be strictly prohibited in cafes, bars, restaurants, etc., closed with awnings, plastic films and other protective barriers. A little later smoking while driving is bannedimposing draconian fines. Moreover, smoking was also banned for passengers if there are children under 12 in the cabin. A smoking passenger is subject to an administrative fine of 1,500 euros, regardless of whether he or she is the driver. And if the smoker is driving a public transport vehicle, the fine doubles to 3,000 euros.

As world practice shows, bans (especially in Greece) work exactly the opposite. The authorities introduce fines and bans without realizing how this works, attracting young people to the forbidden fruit as a sign of protest against adult bans. The government has not heard that the number of smokers can be reduced in other ways, for example, through education.

However, most likely the reason is different: education requires costs, and prohibitive laws bring in money through fines, a considerable share of which ends up in the pockets of those who discover the violation (including informers).

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