12 June 2009 | Eating and drinking venues in Greece are preparing for the new ban on smoking which will come into force on July 1.

Before the ban is enacted, owners of venues that have an area of under 70 square metres will have to decide whether to cater entirely to smokers or non-smokers, the Greek newspaper Vima wrote today.

Bars and restaurants that occupy an area of over 70 square metres will have to create specially enclosed spaces for smokers that can’t take up more than 40 per cent of their total area.

While Greece’s move to ban smoking in public places is consistent with a Europe-wide initiative to curb down the harmful habit, the country – which is the continent’s leader in its population percentages of both systematic and passive smokers, seems to be taking a more liberal approach.

Ireland was the first European country to forbid smoking in public places in 2004, shortly followed by Norway in the same year and Italy in 2005. England introduced a ban in 2007. In France and Germany, smoking in public places started to be prohibited on the first day of 2008.

The Balkans, home to some of Europe’s heaviest smokers, are also starting to follow suit, although smoking is still permitted in public places in most of the countries in the region. Though most of the states in the region have partial smoking bans, which prohibit cigarettes in places such as hospitals, schools and administrative buildings, for the most part they are largely ignored and rarely enforced, as are requirements to have separate smoking and non-smoking sections in bars, cafés and restaurants. As BalkanTravellers.com reported in May, bar and restaurant owners in Croatia – one of the few states where such a ban exists, protested against such restrictions as, they claimed, they were harming business.

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Readers' Comments: "Dear Editor, Smoking bans and the war on smoking are the most corrupt unethical pieces of garbage ever foisted upon the private hospitality sector.   The war on ETS and tobacco are complete shams, that give governments the right to bilk the poor and to exploit private business owners, hospitality workers and smokers." Thomas Laprade Thunder Bay, Ont.