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Cafes of Paris and Berlin go smoke-free
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One of my favorite things about traveling to Europe is hanging out in cafes all day and reading the paper. My least favorite thing about Europe is sitting in these same cafes and inhaling all that horrific secondhand smoke. Well, I'm happy to report that this New Year's Eve, just like the last couple, has brought with it more regional legislation prohibiting smoking in European pubs, cafes, and restaurants. This year the smoke-free axe fell in France and eight states in Germany. This means that all those legendary watering holes of Hemingway's Paris and Isherwood's Berlin will now be without that infamous haze in which various characters wiled away lifetimes of afternoons.
Personally, I couldn't be more excited. Now if only the dollar would improve, I might actually be able to afford a smoke-free drink in one of these places.
Oh, and in case you want to risk it and light up, France is levying a 450 euro fine for the smoker and a 750 euro fine for the bar itself. So do everyone a favor, and don't try it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bsandler Jan 4th 2008 1:06PM
thats....68 euro for the person, and ~150 for the bar, in France.
Not sure about Germany, tho.
ben Jan 4th 2008 3:50PM
in Paris, the police isn't 'obligted' to enforce the smoking ban - that's the responsibility of the inspectors, thus you'll still see people lighting it up in bars and such
rita Jan 17th 2008 4:31PM
i live in Wiesbaden and from what i heard and read in the news is that - Berlin won't, actually, kick-in their smoke-free state until June. but the following states have already followed the smoke-free or smoking ban laws and more states are following in the next couple months or so:
2007:
August - Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony
October - Hesse
2008:
Bavaria, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein
...from what i heard - Bavaria will have the strictest smoking ban laws including the beer tents such as the Oktoberfest tents. YAAY! smoke-free Oktoberfest, this year!!!
Saxony, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia will impose their smoking restrictions within the next two months
June 2008 - Berlin
July 2008 - Thuringia
...i ,and my husband, hates inhaling the second-hand smoke, as well. we love to dine and sit in a cafe to relax also but hate leaving the place smelling like a 50-year old staled ashtray.
also, as you may already have known that Italy has been a smoke-free country since 2005. another reason why that country is on top of our list.
hope all these info helped.
padawan75 Jan 19th 2008 5:42AM
@ben
Wrong! Now police officers are entitled to inspect any venues and give fines. Some bars and customers have already been fined. It's 68 EUR for the customer and from 135 up to 750 EUR for the bar owner. Anyway, the ban is a real success in France. It's fun to see the cigarette addicts standing outside in the cold!