Facing harsh reactions by bar, cafe and restaurant owners, the Greek government is preparing to do a partial about-face on the anti-smoking law. The law went into effect in September and has gone largely unobserved. General Secretary of the Health Ministry Antonis Dimopoulos stated to the press agency ANA that “the government is considering modifications to the law because we cannot ignore reality” at a time of great economic difficulties.
The official also admitted the unexpected strong backlash by business owners who have already been hit by the economic crisis. The business owners are saying that they are losing clients due to the ban on smoking in public places. Greece has the largest smoking rate in the EU. Dimopoulos criticized the harmful stance taken by owners who allow cigarette smoking to attract chronic smokers. According to ANA a definitive decision has not been made but several possibilities are being considered. Among them is the idea of allowing smoking in cafes and also allowing it in bars after 9:00 pm for people over the age of 18. The ban could continue to be applied in restaurants but not in nightclubs. A compromise could be reached for owners of small bars in order to decide how to apply the ban. Last month Health Minister Andreas Loverdos reported that the anti-smoking law was “violated in 80% of the cases” despite huge fines and called the situation “very negative”. Some business owners protested and placed ashtrays back out on the tables in their establishments in an open challenge to a law that has supposedly led to a 30% decline in sales. Greece was one of the last countries in Europe to approve strict anti-smoking laws after the centre-right government passed very mild regulations that were completely unobserved.
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