France Mulls Strict Ban
October 8, 2006
The government is expected to make a decision on the proposal by mid-October. If a ban is announced, France would join other European countries, with similar bans including Ireland, Britain, Spain and Italy.
French government's indecision over smoking ban
Polls regularly show that a majority of the French support a ban on smoking in public places.
However, weakened by a battle with labor unions and students over a controversial youth employment law, the French government backed down in April from a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants to avoid a clash with France's die-hard smokers and the cigarette industry.
According to government figures, some 35 percent of the French population use tobacco, but the statistics also show that smoking kills 66,000 smokers in France each year while a further 5,000 people die from passive smoking.
If the ban is agreed to, French smokers will have to make drastic adjustments as the new rule recommends smoking be completely prohibited unless an establishment can provide hermetically-sealed "fumoirs," which serving staff would not enter.
The government is currently ignoring the outcry from the bar and tobacco lobby, which is warning of the dire financial consequences if the ban comes into effect.
Panel recommends total ban
After five months of consultations with doctors, tobacconists and trade unions, the 30-member parliamentary panel decided in favor of a blanket ban.
The report also advised the government to resort to a decree to enact the ban rather than a law, which it said could then become an unwanted campaign issue in the run-up to the 2007 presidential elections.
Moves to prohibit public smoking in France reflect the changing mood across much of Europe where several countries have introduced similar measures, including Italy, Sweden, Ukraine, Britain and Spain.
Germany, one of the last bastions of smoking in western Europe, meanwhile is slowly warming up to a ban in public places. But a proposed bill expected to enter parliament in the fall has already been watered down because of pressure from the tobacco lobby.