Bulgaria - parliament debates proposal to water down smoking ban..


April 16, 2010 - Bulgaria's parliament will start on Friday, April 16th to debate at first reading the ruling-party proposal to water down a new smoking ban in the country. (Bulgaria - justifying why smoking ban won't go into effect on June 1, 2010..; Bulgaria - ruling party may delay smoking ban until 2011..; Bulgaria - govt to weaken full smoking ban to be effective June 1, 2010..)

Today (April 16, 2010) activists of a civic movement protesting the ruling majority’s plans to water down the much expected ban to smoke in public places have been thrown out of the Bulgarian Parliament. Members of the Civic initiative “Bulgaria without Smoke” were raising their voices in protest inside the Parliament building as the MPs were debating the much disputed legislation, which is supposed to introduce a more permeating smoking ban, doctoronline.bg reported. (Bulgarian NGO Thrown Out of Parliament over Smoking Law Protest, Novinite.com, 4/16/2010)

The draft legislation has surprisingly managed to fuse the ruling center-right ruling party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) with the main opposition Socialist Party. The ad hoc coalition claims that the proposed relaxation of a ban on smoking in all public places would avoid hurting the tourist industry during tough economic times.

Under the proposed changes the owners of restaurants, clubs and coffee shops with an area less than 100 square meters, should decide if smoking would be allowed, while for larger establishments there must be a well-isolated smoking space.

The full ban is to remain effective for all other public spaces. Similar measures were imposed as part of a partial smoking ban in 2005 but have been widely ignored.

The Balkan country of 7.6 million people has the second highest percentage of smokers in the EU after Greece. More than half of men and about a third of women smoke, surveys show. Map of Balkan Country..

Reference: Bulgaria MPs Debate Eased Ban on Smoking, Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), 4/16/2010;

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