On the same day that Belgium completely banned the sale of disposable e-cigarettes, in a government effort to discourage young people from vaping, the city of Milan became the second city in Italy – Turin was the first – to impose a ban on smoking, both conventional and electronic, in all outdoor public spaces, with the aim of “improving the climate, air quality and the health of citizens.”
The date was January 1, 2025, and on the same day, in yet another European country, Lithuania, sellers made their shop window displays opaque, following the Lithuanian government’s ban on the open display of tobacco products.
These are just three examples of the many European countries that are trying again, after the “interruption” of the pandemic years, to reorganize their strategy, introduce new restrictions on smokers and vapers, and discourage future generations from lighting up cigarettes of any kind. Even if we are talking about outdoor spaces.
Stricter Rules
Is Europe heading towards a total ban on smoking? Although the decisions of the Italian city, Belgium and Lithuania are the least strict – and in our country they seem rather excessive – they are fully in line with the recent recommendations of the European Commission for stricter smoking rules. The rules extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas and now also cover new tobacco products that do not contain nicotine.
The updated recommendations concern a smoking ban in public places such as rooftops, balconies, playgrounds, parks, swimming pools and zoos, outdoor areas of healthcare and educational facilities, and public transport stops.
Greece’s Abstention
The European Commission’s recommendation for stricter anti-smoking rules was adopted last December by the EU health ministers and is obviously not binding, as the final decisions are taken separately by the member states, which will have to individually deal with smokers-vapers, catering businesses, tobacco product retailers and, of course, the pressures of the domestic tobacco industry.
However, it gives a preview of the policies that governments could follow in the future. The recommendation passed with almost all countries voting in favor, except for Germany and Greece, which abstained. The recommendations are part of the EU’s plan to fight cancer and its main goal is to reduce the use of tobacco products by 30% by 2025 and reduce smokers at the European level to 5%, in order to achieve a smoke-free generation by 2040.
How feasible is it for the countries of the European Union, a quarter of whose citizens (24%) are smokers, to quit smoking once and for all? It is certainly more difficult for some than others, if one takes into account the special Eurobarometer report (June 2024) according to which the heaviest smokers are in Eastern Europe.
Bulgaria is first with 37%, Greece comes second (36%), followed immediately by Croatia and Romania, with 35% and 34% respectively. Unsurprisingly, things are much better in the North: Sweden, which has been smoke-free for two decades, even on restaurant and bar terraces, records the lowest percentage of smokers (8%), followed by the Netherlands (11%) and Denmark (14%).
Greece, which has never fully embraced laws banning smoking, was the only country – along with Germany, which also never recorded brilliant performance in reducing smokers – that abstained from the relevant decision of the EU health ministers.
“Taking into account the wide extension of the proposed measures to outdoor areas, without prior impact analysis, the morphological, climatic and particular characteristics of our country will have a special weight in the evaluation for the design of its implementation,” noted the then Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis.
Although the news of the recommendation was accompanied by prominent headlines in the Greek media, the information about the abstention was rather overshadowed, because there were soon reports announcing government plans under consideration with new bans on smoking in outdoor areas, even on terraces or verandas of cafes and restaurants.
“It would be an extreme measure to go to European-style bans, like countries where you can’t even smoke at bus stops. The policies we have followed so far are to discourage younger people, we cannot go to the other extreme, as if there will be harm to the health of the next table,” comments Giorgos Kavvathas, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Restaurant and Related Professions (POESE).
It is noted that in a clarifying question from “Ef.Syn.” to the Ministry of Health, we received the answer that no such intention exists for the time being for new bans, unless there is some relevant legislative regulation from the Commission that the country will be obliged to adopt.
LITHUANIA: No Smoking Even on Apartment Balconies
Smoking is not allowed even on the balconies of apartment buildings where at least one resident of the apartment is a non-smoker in Lithuania, which for three decades has legislated very strict prohibitions for smokers. The relevant law even imposes on a smoking resident of an apartment that their smoke will not “travel” to other areas of the house (in cases of cohabitation) or neighboring apartments.
Smoking is prohibited in universities and workplaces, where special smoking areas can be provided, and even in cars, if minors or pregnant women are passengers. Smoking is prohibited in restaurants, with the exception of special smoking clubs, while as regards public transport, it is prohibited, but there are exceptions: on long-distance train routes, trains have separate carriages for smokers and non-smokers.
Municipalities individually have the authority to impose “smoke-free” zones in cities, banning smoking in specific public places (such as parks and squares) and in other areas under their jurisdiction. Some municipalities, for example, ban smoking even in alleyways!
CZECH REPUBLIC: “Brussels Terrorizes Citizens”
“Ban on smoking in the front garden, in the park, in the playground?”, “Death to catering due to the EU?”, “The last battle against smokers is underway.” These are some of the news headlines in the Czech media that accompanied the news of the recent European Commission recommendation and rather reflect the position of a large part of the country’s population. As Denik Referendum notes, in the wake of the news, “an avalanche of news articles broke out that want Brussels to terrorize the Czechs again and hit the catering industry.”
Today, smoking conventional and electronic cigarettes is prohibited in schools, playgrounds, hospitals, sports stadiums and public transport stops, and there are probably no political intentions to change the legislation to be stricter, since both the parties of the governing coalition and the opposition disagree with the European recommendation.
AUSTRIA: Opposition from the People’s Party and the Greens
Austria received the European Commission’s recommendation rather positively, but not without political divisions. Although many of the measures have already been implemented in Austria, the Green Health Minister, Johannes Rauch, has long planned to tighten the smoking ban. A draft law is already in the works that provides for the extension of the ban to playgrounds and cars if children are in the vehicle. As is the case in Greece when a child under the age of 12 is in the vehicle (1,500 euro fine).
However, in Austria, its implementation “stumbles” due to the opposition of the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) with which the Greens co-govern. Criticism had already been expressed in late November by Karl Nehammer, recently resigned from the chancellery (ÖVP), who even hastened to promote the far-right agenda of the party: “Such proposals are in a completely wrong direction.
“The EU should stop trying to regulate people’s lives down to the smallest detail and instead deal with serious issues, such as immigration […] With the ÖVP there will be no smoking ban in outdoor areas,” he said bluntly.
However, individual cities have already implemented the smoking ban in public places. In Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck, as well as in Graz, fines are already imposed ranging from 30 to 1,000 euros, depending on the type of violation.
SPAIN: Barrage of Banning Laws
Until 2006, in Spain it was possible to smoke in workplaces, including offices and factories, in universities, restaurants or even in some areas of hospitals. In January 2006, a law came into force that banned smoking in enclosed workplaces, while providing flexibility in the hospitality sector: bars and restaurants could choose whether to allow smoking, depending on their size.
The framework was tightened in 2011, when smoking was banned in all enclosed public spaces, including bars, restaurants and common areas of hospitals. The possibility of creating smoking areas in enclosed spaces was abolished and the ban was extended to playgrounds, play areas and schools. In April 2024, the Council of Ministers approved a comprehensive plan with a three-year implementation plan (2024-2027), aimed at reducing smoking and vaping to “achieve a smoke-free generation.” In this context, it proposed banning smoking and vaping in “certain outdoor community and social spaces” and in private spaces in the presence of minors,1 as well as increasing the price of tobacco products.
BULGARIA: Ban with Significant Exceptions
In Bulgaria, the first EU country in terms of the number of smokers, smoking is prohibited inside restaurants and bars, but the Bulgarian health authorities allow significant exceptions, which, as the Bulgarian Mediapool notes, can be attributed to phenomena of corruption.
Many restaurants and bars in major cities adapt indoor spaces to parks, on the street or in gardens where they allow smoking.
The Bulgarian authorities do not take additional measures to restrict smoking and the excise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products are at the lowest levels in the EU. At the same time, the