We used to have to work in the smoking area. Some bars and nightclubs have complained that fewer customers are coming since the ban and that they have lost between 15% and 25% of turnover. Help us reach our goal by making a contribution to Vox today, from as little as $3. ? Australian expeditioner evacuated from Antarctica in five-day mission, Boko Haram kill villagers in Christmas Eve attack, Michael Jackson: Neverland Ranch 'sold to billionaire for $22m', Bridgerton: Everything you need to know about the Netflix drama, Brexit: What you need to know about the UK leaving the EU. Some restaurants and cafes went non-smoking several years ago, but others allowed smoking until the last possible minute. — Austria is also known as the “ashtray of Europe,” with a population that “must be among Europe’s worst educated about tobacco.” People can smoke here, and just about everywhere. A tradition of dominant influence of the tobacco industry, coupled with a strong resistance from tobacconists, the hospitality sector, and parts of the population, impeded for a long time, any effective, comprehensive tobacco control legislation. The clothes smell better the next day. Szekeres’s organization helped launch a petition opposing the government’s scrapping of the smoking ban, which got nearly 900,000 signatures (a sizable number in a country of 8.8 million). In May 2018, a smoking ban was scheduled to begin in all bars and restaurants in Austria; however, the ban was recently overturned by lawmakers from a new ruling coalition in the … Coalition governments are common, he explained, and two parties need to come to a consensus on policies. “This tobacco monopoly was unbelievably powerful,” Kunze says, “politically and also as far as money was concerned.” Only in 1997, was Austrian Tabak privatized, and then in 2001, sold off to Britain’s Gallaher Group, another cigarette group, for $1.6 billion. Video, Nashville explosion: Camper van blows up in 'intentional act', Queen's Christmas speech: 'You are not alone', Russian historian jailed for dismembering partner. It’s also illegal to smoke in your own car when any occupant is under the age of 18. Support from our readers helps us rely less on advertising, and keep our resource-intensive work free for everyone who needs it. When lawmakers started to take tobacco controls more seriously, they came up with an absurdly half-baked fix in 2009: a quasi-smoking ban allowing restaurants larger than 50 square meters to simply cordon off an area where people could continue to smoke. July 2, 2019 1:03 pm Lawmakers in the Austrian parliament Tuesday voted to ban smoking inside bars and restaurants following years of negotiations. Austria had been on the verge of bringing in a total ban last year, but the plans were overturned because of pressure from the far-right Freedom Party, which was part of the last government. While there’s a 78 percent tax on cigarettes, they are still relatively cheap in Austria. “[The] evidence is crystal clear that the only effective way to protect workers and the public from secondhand smoke is to enact 100 percent smoke-free laws that ban smoking in all indoor workplaces and public places.”. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. In general the ban seems to be holding in Vienna. (Shutterstock/Brian Kinney) Smoking in Austrian bars and restaurants will be banned as of November following a vote in parliament on Tuesday, after … “We have 500 shisha bars with several hundred employees in Austria — they will be wiped out,” he says. "We have better air. Customers wishing to eat in the non-smoking area at the back had to walk through the smoky bar to get there. The scandal, known as the Ibiza affair, had a surprising benefit for public health: an interim government passed the smoking ban. I’ve seen pregnant women lighting up as well as kids who look like they haven’t reached puberty. Published. In nearby France, the same pack now costs 9.30 euros; and in the United Kingdom, 11.05 pounds (US $14.31) — both countries that have recently increased their cigarette prices and have lower smoking rates. © 2020 BBC. "My employees are nearly all smokers and I told them you will be glad because you will have no more passive smoke; you'll smoke much less than before and the next day you will feel fresher than before.". .css-orcmk8-HeadlineContainer{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}Nashville explosion: Camper van blows up in 'intentional act'.css-1dedj2h-Rank{-webkit-align-self:center;-ms-flex-item-align:center;align-self:center;color:#B80000;margin-left:3.125rem;}1, Queen's Christmas speech: 'You are not alone'3, Russian historian jailed for dismembering partner4, Brexit trade deal: What were the big themes in the talks?5, Australian expeditioner evacuated from Antarctica in five-day mission6, Boko Haram kill villagers in Christmas Eve attack7, Michael Jackson: Neverland Ranch 'sold to billionaire for $22m'8, Bridgerton: Everything you need to know about the Netflix drama9, Brexit: What you need to know about the UK leaving the EU10. We want to add 2,020 more founding contributors to our supporter base by the end of the year. Read about our approach to external linking. Austrian MPs have scrapped a smoking ban in bars and restaurants that was scheduled to come into force in May, despite a petition in its favour collecting 545,000 signatures. However, due to the generally long duration of hotel stays, they are also to be given an opportunity to build strictly separated smoking rooms for guests. Viennese tap water, which trickles into the city from the Alps, is legendary. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, has one of the highest rates of teen smokers, 1997, was Austrian Tabak privatized, and then in 2001, implement a total smoking ban on bars, cafés, and restaurants, Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, tobacco store owners. Wratschko is something of a Vienna institution. In my pub, you had the very old rooms at the front, with the bar, with the taste of smoke and alcohol. “[This was] a typical ‘Austrian solution’ as we would say here,” says Jakob-Moritz Eberl, a political science researcher at the University of Vienna. Smoking is not permitted inside trains, trams, buses and other enclosed forms of public transport (such as taxis and hire cars). Austria is well known for its high smoking rates and is one of the last European countries to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Parliament on Tuesday passed a ban on smoking in Austria's bars and restaurants, extinguishing a flagship policy of the recently collapsed right-wing government which had scrapped the measure after it was already on the statute books. Sixty percent of the city’s residents live in government-subsidized housing — something politicians routinely boast about. November 1, 2019—After years of political volleying and public outcry, Austria implemented a full indoor smoking ban in bars, cafes, and restaurants. Shisha bars are currently taking legal steps to try to get an exception for their businesses. The ban is symbolic of the Austrian tendency of trying to “control everything to death,” argued Peter Dobcak, the tourism and leisure chair of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. Figures from mid-November say that inspectors carried out more than 2,000 checks of restaurants and reported 27 breaches of the ban. Austria has more than double the rate of daily smokers compared to the US, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (24.3 percent versus 10.5 percent of the population over age 15). Austrian Parliament yesterday voted to scrap an impending ban on smoking on bars and restaurants across the country. Austria should not be called the „Europe’s ashtray“ anymore. The smoking ban will now apply to all such establishments and will be enforced with heavy penalties. Smaller outfits could opt out altogether, allowing people to keep smoking. "Maybe I am a bit sentimental. The decision came after years of controversy. The far-right party, led at the time by an avid smoker named Heinz-Christian Strache, rallied around the idea that smoking, like speeding on the highway, was a personal freedom — one the country’s already considerable nanny state shouldn’t be allowed to intervene in. Vienna, Austria / Sun, November 3, 2019 / 10:02 pm Guests of a Vienna's Cafe/Bar smoke cigarettes with their drinks in Vienna, Austria, on March 22, … From 2013, law enforcement has been implemented, and smoking is strictly forbidden in closed public areas, including bars, pubs, restaurants etc. VideoThe refugees feeding a nation, playThe biggest selling single of all time. In 2015, the SPÖ (democratic) and ÖVP (conservative) coalition in Austria agreed upon a general smoking ban in restaurants and taverns beginning in May 2018. “They take your taxes but say you can’t smoke,” he grumbled. Part of this lag was due to an enormous conflict of interest at the heart of regulating tobacco here: The country’s tobacco industry was dominated by Austria Tabak, a state monopoly that controlled the production and distribution of cigarettes. It is banned in all subway stations in Vienna and in the entire country’s railway stations. In one smoke-filled bar, Café Happy, a bartender called the new law “expropriation” and said it’s absurd the government would forbid smoking indoors. But it's much better. The demonstration was attended by the disgraced former head of the far-right Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache. The law is certainly controversial, but what’s most surprising is that it took this long to be implemented. Adult women are No. Austrians can thank a formerly state-owned tobacco industry, the far-right party, and something political scientists call “the Austrian solution.”, In 1964, the US came out with a landmark surgeon general report warning of the grave dangers of smoking. It has one of the highest rates of teen smokers in Europe. .css-1xgx53b-Link{font-family:ReithSans,Helvetica,Arial,freesans,sans-serif;font-weight:700;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;color:#FFFFFF;}.css-1xgx53b-Link:hover,.css-1xgx53b-Link:focus{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}Read about our approach to external linking. … Health minister Alois Stöger says Austria’s partial smoking bans are not doing the job, and he’s announced his intention to push through a complete ban on smoking in restaurants by 2018. Not everyone shares Dobcak’s sentiments. A petition to ban smoking in Austria’s bars and restaurants has managed to collect more than 200,000 signatures since 15 February, and the issue will now have to be debated in parliament. "People want to go out and meet their friends, to enjoy a kind of atmosphere. Austria was once dubbed "the ashtray of Europe" but has finally banned smoking in restaurants, bars and cafes. But after the fall of the coalition in May, the ban was reintroduced and came into force on 1 November. He thinks people will come back to the night clubs, like they did in France, Italy and other countries which have introduced smoking bans. The coalition government fell apart. In order for Austrian moms to qualify for their sizable child benefit, they have to prove they submitted to a series of maternal health exams by having their doctors fill out a booklet — the Mutter-Kind Pass — and submitting it to the state. Its owner, Clemens Wratschko, says the atmosphere has improved and it is better for his staff as well. Although polling suggested a majority of Austrians still favored a ban, the far-right party made a shrewd political calculation, Thomas Szekeres, the president of the Austrian Medical Association, told Vox. If any of these places are caught allowing a customer to smoke, they are fined €2,200 and the person smoking is fined €350. VideoThe biggest selling single of all time. A ban on smoking in Austrian bars and restaurants took effect Friday, making it one of the last European countries to stub out the habit in indoor public places after years of protracted debate and protests. The public transit system is world-class (in two months here, I’ve never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus or tram). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Up until now, smoking had been legal in small bars and restaurants, and allowed smoking rooms in hospitality venues larger than 50 square meters. If you want to smoke, fine - your decision if you want to get lung cancer. Austria’s capital, Vienna, has repeatedly been voted the most livable city in the world, according to an annual index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. I think it is not a problem. Down the road at Café Rüdigerhof, I met Ricci, who has been a waiter for 25 years. The decision was opposed by Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, tobacco store owners, and the leisure and gastronomy industries, among others. Statistics from Krebshilfe and the Medical Association show that in Austria every year 14,000 smokers die directly and 1,000 people indirectly from the consequences of passive smoking. 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