The European Commission adopted on Tuesday a strengthening of its anti-smoking guidelines.
It recommends banning smoking, even electronic cigarettes, in outdoor spaces such as café terraces or bus stops.
Will his proposals apply in France?
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There is no smoke without fire, as the saying goes. And in France, there are few terraces without smoke. “It’s true, who says coffee, says cigarette”confirms a Montpellier resident sitting at a table outdoors in the TF1 news report, which can be found in the video at the top of this article. A habit destined to disappear like a scroll? The question now deserves to be asked, as the European Commission has just adopted new guidelines to combat smoking, proposing that Member States extend the ban on smoking and vaping to new outdoor spaces such as café and restaurant terraces, bus stops, the areas around train stations, offices, hospitals, retirement homes, public playgrounds, swimming pools, zoos and educational establishments, from daycare to university.
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It should be noted, however, that these European directives are only recommendations: they are not legally binding on the Member States, which will therefore have the choice of complying with them or not. Could such measures be applied in France? Theoretically, yes. “Let’s take this coffee as an exampleexplains to TF1 Me Sébastien Avallone, lawyer specializing in public law. Private property stops at the doors of the establishment. From the moment I take a step outside, I am in the public domain. So yes, it would be an infringement of a freedom, but one that the legislator can decide, within the framework of a public health policy.” In Japan, such constraints have existed for more than 20 years.
700,000 deaths per year in Europe
“When it comes to risk factors for cancer and many other diseases, such as heart disease, stroke and lung disease, tobacco tops the list. Every year in the European Union, 700,000 people lose their lives due to tobacco use, tens of thousands of them due to second-hand smoke. We have a duty to protect our citizens, especially the youngest, from exposure to smoke and harmful emissions.”argues Stella Kyriakides, the outgoing Health Commissioner.
These new guidelines are part of the “Beat Cancer” plan launched in 2009, which aims to create a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040, to reduce smoking by 30% by 2025 and to reduce the proportion of smokers in the European population to 5%.
