Will Czechs be next to face the smoking ban?

The Irish have it since March 2004, the Italians for about a week and the Czechs may be added to the list sooner than most of them would expect. I'm talking about countries that have severely curtailed smoking in public places. How soon could this become a reality, how do ordinary Czechs feel about it, and are small restaurants and bars dreading the day?

A law that would significantly limit smoking in public places has yet to be adopted in the Czech Republic. While such a bill was put forward in parliament by the government of the former Prime Minister, Vladimir Spidla, back in March 2003, it has only made it through the first reading since then. The second and third are expected to be held in February. The bill proposes to ban smoking in public places including public transport, on train, tram and bus stops, waiting rooms, schools, cinemas and theatres, as well as restaurants and bars except those that have separate smokers' rooms with extra ventilation. The law also bans the distribution of products that look like cigarettes - for example bubble gum or chocolate. Smokers who break the law could face a fine of 1,000 Czech crowns (a little over 40 US dollars); businesses up to 50,000 crowns (a little over 2,000 US dollars).

But let's look at some figures first. Fifty people die of smoking-related diseases every day in the Czech Republic. Every third Czech above the age of fifteen smokes. And, it is estimated that every year, the Czech Republic spends some 30 billion crowns (around 1.25 billion US dollars) on the treatment of smoking-related diseases.

It has also been proven that second-hand smoke exposure - passive smoking - is associated with increased risks of heart disease and lung cancer. But MP Josef Janecek from the Christian Democrats, whose efforts helped to stop tobacco advertising in this country, fears that many MPs who will vote in next month's second and third reading will be influenced by pressure from the tobacco industry and economic factors rather than their reasonable judgement:

"I see it is extraordinary difficult to fight against economic power. Tobacco is an important commodity. People spend about 40 billion crowns on it per year in the Czech Republic, which is over one billion euros. Businesspeople are afraid that their profit is being threatened. Some politicians would like to be in important economic groups and declare that a ban on smoking in public places is a restriction of their civil liberty. In our country today, the sense of liberty is very, very important but let's not forget that non-smokers have the civil right for fresh air too."

The bill is most strongly opposed by the main right-of-centre opposition Civic Democrats, many of them non-smokers, who say the smoking ban would be counterproductive. When I met up with Civic Democrat Deputy-Chairman Petr Necas, he said he opposed the bill on the grounds of freedom:

"As a first remark, I must say that I have long been a fanatic non-smoker but at the same time I do think that it is a question of my freedom whether I will be in a place where there are smokers or not. So, as a fanatic non-smoker I am against any ban on smoking in public places."

But you live here in the Czech Republic, where smoking really is to be found everywhere. There are very few places that you as a non-smoker can go to if you want to go to a non-smoking place.

"I must agree, to be fully honest, that smokers are dominating in the Czech Republic but it is a task for our non-smokers to try to struggle with this and I don't think it is necessary to have a legal framework and use legal tools."

But can't you turn it around and say 'if you want to smoke, do it in your own privacy and not at places where people have to breathe your smoke and affect their health as well'...

"Again, I must agree but at the same time it's a question of whether I am brave or not to say it disturbs me and I don't want the person to smoke."

Okay, let's make a deal. The next time I'll be at a bus stop and someone next to me refuses to smoke, I will take him by his sleeve and drag him to you...

"I think it sounds like a fair trade [he laughs]."

Mr Necas and most of his party colleagues believe a law that dictates to citizens where they can and cannot smoke interferes with their basic rights and freedoms. Far more effective, they say, would be a massive campaign against smoking, with celebrities attracting attention and pointing out the dangers of addiction. As far as young smokers are concerned, they argue a law already exists that bans the sale of cigarettes to minors and all the country needs is to take it more seriously and go after those who break the law.

It is also argued that besides smokers, bars and restaurants that are too small to offer separate smokers' rooms will also suffer and may even be forced to close down. But most bar owners I spoke to in Prague are not dreading the law as many have already anticipated it and some even welcome working in a clean environment.

"I don't care. I'm a smoker but I don't have to smoke. My bar is too small for an extra smokers' room. I expect the number of customers to reduce by half. But I have and will have enough people in my bar... but what about those in the villages? What Czech man in the country is going to have a beer without a cigarette? I predict the local pub will either have to break the rules or the men will buy their beer at the local supermarket and meet at places where they can smoke. As far as the argument that more families and pregnant women would seek the smaller non-smokers' bars is concerned, I must disagree. What family or woman who is seven months pregnant would go to a cocktail bar?"

So how does the ordinary Czech feel about it? Will Czech smokers no longer visit smaller non-smokers' pubs and restaurants? Most smokers say it will be an inconvenience that will take getting used to but they're not planning to revolt. Most of them hope it would help them stop smoking.

So how long will it be before the law is adopted in the Czech Republic? Opposition MP Petr Necas thinks both the Senate and Lower House will approve the bill as it is in the next couple of months. But Social Democrat Josef Janecek is not as optimistic:

"It could theoretically be in about a month. Everything is prepared for it in the lower house. The proposed law has been waiting here for two years. Practically, I think it needs more time. Maybe the draft law will be rejected. In such a case, I would prepare another one. It is not easy to say how likely it is the law will be accepted. There is a strong pressure to put it off but the idea of a ban on smoking goes through political parties and it is therefore difficult to anticipate the result of the vote."

Even if the bill fails to make it through the second reading, most politicians believe a law that bans smoking in public places in whatever form will be adopted in the Czech Republic by next year, at the latest.