8 June 2009 | Croatia began enforcing a smoking ban in public places on May 6. The law allows smoking outside facilities -- offices, bars, restaurants, and cafes -- but not indoors.


While some employers are lukewarm about the law, restaurant and bar owners are outraged, fearing that they will lose clientele, as BalkanTravellers.com reported earlier. Restaurateurs have reportedly started an initiative to put Croatia on the list of countries that discriminate against smokers.

The blog community is divided, yet passionate, about the issue. Non-smokers are exhilarated, painting the law as a very positive step towards improving the nation's health, while smokers consider it repressive. [Note: All of the links below lead to blogs in Croatian.]

Nepusac praises the "healthiest law that was ever passed" in Croatia and warns that the tobacco industry is "trying to act through the restaurant and bar owners" to reverse the law. He finds their attempt outrageous, claiming they "promote the old myth that smoking is something entirely normal while non-smoking is not". He calls on everybody to support the government's stand, which reflects "civilisation, awareness and societal health".

Ironman agrees, saying the law "can not be defined as discriminatory". He blames the "smoking addicts" who "usually ignore everyone around them". Particularly concerned about children's health at public places he writes "we all know what happens if you ask a smoker to put away a cigarette. Only one in ten will comply." However, he has friends who smoke and "are very tolerant and flexible…an inspiration and an example that if we want something, we can achieve it".

TV journalist Drazen Ilincic wrote that in an effort to find seats "in places in the sun and under sunscreens" non-smokers still gather where smoking is permitted. "I do not think non-smokers are to blame; I think that those who constantly want to impose the rules on us are to blame, including deciding what is healthy," he concludes.

LobyM came up with an innovative solution on her blog. She plans to open a private smoking zone where smokers could hang out and enjoy nicotine without any restrictions.

Politician and smoker Nenad Stazic writes that he is now a second class citizen. "They are trying to protect us from ourselves… telling us what to do. Why doesn't the government ban the tobacco industry then?"

Another avid smoker, Jutarnja Spranja, says smoking is a vice for the poor in Croatia. "Smoking kills. What about cholesterol?" He notes that there are no warnings on hamburger wrappers. "If we have declared war on cigarettes, we should be consistent…I only want my destiny in my hands…to decide how I would die."

Televizionar adds a humorous angle. "Some smokers were so disappointed," he writes, "they went to Herzegovina to smoke, like the courageous … Branimir Glavas." He hopes that the matches Glavas -- a member of parliament turned fugitive -- discards after lighting up "will not cause fires at the border."

*This text is courtesy of the Southeast European Times (SET), a web site sponsored by the US Department of Defense in support of UN Resolution 1244, designed to provide an international audience with a portal to a broad range of information about Southeastern Europe. It highlights movement toward greater regional stability and steps governments take toward integration into European institutions. SET also focuses on developments that hinder both terrorist activity and support for terrorism in the region.

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Readers' Comments: "It is clear that separation of smokers from non-smokers combined with air exchange technology is a complete solution to this largely artificial problem. All it takes is regulating authorities setting the standards for indoor air quality on passive smoke, and the technology does the rest. Such air quality standards are common in industrial and environmental contexts. But, to date, no country in the world has set them for smoking areas. It seems clear that the reasons are not scientific, nor are they economic or technical: they are political. As to the annoyance of smoking, a compromise between smokers and non-smokers can be reached, through setting a quality standard and the use of modern ventilation technology. Air ventilation can easily create a comfortable environment that removes not just passive smoke, but also and especially the potentially serious contaminants that are independent from smoking." Thomas Laprade