French will lose right to smoke in cafes, bars

PARIS — The days of cigarette-friendly France are about to go up in smoke.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced as expected Sunday that a ban on smoking in schools, offices and other public buildings will start in February, while restaurants, dance clubs and some bars have until 2008 to comply.

"I am convinced the French people are now ready," de Villepin said. France will join Ireland, Spain, Britain and Italy, which have adopted similar measures. "The issue is ripe in our country, given the experiences that we know of elsewhere."

Villepin told LCI television the ban will be ordered "by decree" in the next few days — a step that allows the government to avert an explosive parliamentary debate ahead of presidential and legislative elections next year.

The French treasure their right to light up in cafes, bars or restaurants, and have sought to cast the debate as one of freedoms being infringed. Even the French presidency's Web site shows a photo of a young President Jacques Chirac with a cigarette in his mouth.

The new rule will affect schools, train stations, airports, offices, public buildings and other enclosed public spaces starting Feb. 1, Villepin said. Restaurants, discos and special cafes where tobacco is sold will be given an "adjustment" period until Jan. 1, 2008.

Smokers who violate the ban will face fines of $95, while proprietors of buildings where violations take place will be subject to twice that, Villepin said.

Villepin said public health was at stake. An estimated 60,000 people die in France from smoking-related illness each year, with 5,000 more deaths attributed to the effects of secondhand smoke, he said.

Villepin said the state-run health-care system will pay some costs of anti-smoking treatments for smokers who want to quit, while state-run hospitals will increase medical consultation services to help people kick the habit.

Bar owners, tobacco vendors, restaurateurs and others in the service and hospitality industries have vowed to fight anti-smoking measures, claiming that bans would hurt their businesses.