France Sans Smoky Cafes? Mais Oui!

Smokers Hit Sidewalks As French Smoking Ban Takes Effect In Cafes, Bars

(AP)  Smokers across France braved chilly weather to light up on the sidewalks, and restaurant and cafe owners predicted hard financial times as a smoking ban took effect on Tuesday.

Eight states in neighboring Germany also launched restrictions on smoking in bars and restaurants, though the measures were generally more flexible than in France - where smoking in cafes, bars, restaurants and night clubs is now prohibited.

Though French officials gave smokers a New Year's Day reprieve, saying they would only start enforcing the ban on Wednesday, many Paris cafes and restaurants had already gone smoke-free.

Newly hung no-smoking signs dotted the entrance and walls of the Cafe Elysees, off Paris' celebrated Champs-Elysees avenue, and staffers bundled up for sidewalk smoke breaks.

Client Pierre Morgon, 22, praised the ban, saying the cafe's clean air allowed him to better appreciate the food.

"Today's filet mignon tastes richer than it did yesterday," said the Cafe Elysees regular with a sly smile.

Morgon, a smoker, said the restrictions would also help motivate him to kick the habit.

"There's no way I'll be able to put it off anymore," he said.

Others saw the ban as attack on their individual rights.

Jean-Pierre Aiglement, a 55-year-old waiter at the Cafe Au Depart, in northern Paris, vowed not to be "chased out onto the pavement" by the "stupid law."

"I'll smoke where I please," he said, lighting a cigarette to go with his morning coffee.

Under the measure, those caught lighting up inside face a $93 fine, while owners who turn a blind eye to smoking in their establishments face a $198 fine.

Restaurateurs and cafe personnel say the ban forces them to police their clients, and insist it will slice into their revenues. Smokers who light up with a countertop morning coffee, on the dance floor or after a meal make up a huge customer base.

"Once they start enforcing the ban, this place will be empty," Aiglement said.

Loic Chardonnay, a 22-year-old waiter at the Cafe Elysees, said he expected business to slow down for several months.

"But it'll pick up once we French get used to it," he predicted, pointing to the success of recent smoking bans in Spain and Italy. "If they can do it, there's no reason why we won't be able to."

With the ban, France joins the swelling ranks of European countries that have enacted broad anti-smoking restrictions. But for many in this country, which is known for its hazy cafes, cigarettes are an integral part of what it means to be French.

About a quarter of France's 60 million people smoke. The Health Ministry said one in two regular smokers - or some 66,000 people annually - dies of smoking-related illness here, and about 5,000 nonsmokers die each year from second-hand smoke.

Last year saw the reinforcement of a long-standing prohibition on smoking in France's workplaces, schools, airports, hospitals and other "closed and covered" public places like train stations. Restaurants and other so-called places of conviviality were given an extra 11 months to adapt to the new rules, which allow smoking only inside special sealed chambers.

Restaurateurs have decried the chambers, which they say are prohibitively expensive, and urged more flexibility in the new measure.

In November, some 10,000 protesters, mainly tobacco vendors, marched across Paris in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade lawmakers to water down the new measures.

In Germany, a group representing restaurant and bar owners filed a challenge to the country's supreme court against new anti-smoking laws - which took effect Tuesday in the states of Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. The details vary state-to-state, though the German smoking laws are generally less restrictive than the French one.

A ban on smoking in German trains, other public transport and federal buildings took effect in September.

American tourist Regina Sauma applauded European efforts to go smoke-free.

Sauma, a New Yorker who often travels to the continent for business, said she did not think the French ban was a threat to Parisian cafe culture.

"There's more to Paris than just smoke," Sauma said as she braved low temperatures and overcast skies to savor a cigarette on an outdoor terrace.

But I still believe that once all of us smokers are in hiding, dead, or have quit smoking, those people whose existance revolves around controlling other people will find something new to attempt to criminalize.

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Many of us now live in places where we don''t have to be subjected to tobacco smoke. It''s nice and relaxing. I can even go to a bar.

[missingamerica]

I understand why many people don''t like to smell cigarette smoke...and I don''t have any problem not smoking around them. At all.

But I still believe that once all of us smokers are in hiding, dead, or have quit smoking, those people whose existance revolves around controlling other people will find something new to attempt to criminalize.

The only question in my mind is what will it be?

Alcohol? Adultery? Obesity? Public displays of affection? Loud music? Flatulence? Coughing with your mouth uncovered? Sleeping through church?

[lawyertom1]

No, thank god.

[ianlou]

It seems strange that some of the French feel a cigarette is such a big part of their identity when it''s really just an addiction.

Strange but true, when I see someone holding a cig between their thumb and some other finger with their palm up, I think "what are you, French?"

Fortunately, not all smokers think that they have a right to poison others with their smoke, or that people who want to avoid smoke should have to avoid going to restaurants.

The Health Ministry said one in two regular smokers - or some 66,000 people annually - dies of smoking-related illness here...

According to these numbers, all smokers in France should be dead within two years. Voila! By 2009 no more smoking problem.

Nope. It says one in two dies, and 66,000 die annually. It doesn''t say one in two dies annually. The placement of the dashes matters.

[rushman71]

Sacrebleu!!!! What is happening to our freedom!!! Off to the guilotine!!! HEEHEE, HAWHAW!!!

[samrensho]

Wow, finally able to enjoy a meal in France. The typical French restaurant used to smell like someone dumped a full ashtray on your plate.

[sharncedar]

I grow weary of a world with one set of beliefs, one set of laws. I grow weary of the one world dictatorship - it is not wrong, perhaps smoking is bad for people - but it is a far worse thing: boring.

A world of sanctimonious Tony Blairs telling us we cannot smoke, we cannot do anything he and his anal little friends think is wrong in their tiny, boring minds.

Once Americans said give me freedom or give me death. What did they mean? Is freedom really as important as life itself?

[noaanhc]

Definition of a cigarette smoker who refuses to quit

A fire on one end and a fool on the other

[excoachken]

I thought the French were supposed to be "cutting edge" in style. We got smart and stylish about this in the 80''s. Wake up Pierre, and smell the lavender, without the stench of tobacco covering it up!

[beehive21-2009]

Cigarettes kill ,man loves to kill, therefore keep right on smoking.this is a step into a healthier society especially for the workers in the pubs.

[bcbbkake]

The Health Ministry said one in two regular smokers - or some 66,000 people annually - dies of smoking-related illness here...

According to these numbers, all smokers in France should be dead within two years. Voila! By 2009 no more smoking problem.

[maw327-2009]

It seems strange that some of the French feel a cigarette is such a big part of their identity when it''s really just an addiction. And how silly to point to a few famous French writers who smoked as an example of urban cool. Surely there''s more to one''s personality than a nauseous puff of smoke!