Rest in peace - smokers and cafés
Smokers will now have to sit outside in the cold if they want a cigarette
New anti-smoking laws in France have prohibited smoking in all public spaces, extending the ban to bars, restaurants, nightclubs – and the most cherished of all spaces: the café.
This means no more billowing clouds of smoke wafting their way through the air of Parisian cafes, raising the white flag for folkloric throw backs to the great icons of French creativity -– from Colette to Cocteau to Camus to Coco Channel.
A diverse range of national figures have always been associated with smoking tobacco for hours on end. Smoking tobacco is still considered as a luxury past time which brings people from all walks of life together under the same roof. Walk in to any Parisian café and you will see a mixture of actors, writers, street cleaners, artisans and business men all eating and drinking from the same tables. The one thing they have in common is the cigarette.
Smoking in France has forever given people a social outlet. Thus many smokers will no doubt refrain from buying their espresso in the morning now that the cigarette –- originally a French word -– will no longer accompany their morning kick-start.
Indeed, we are kissing goodbye to an influential part of France's social identity but in a recent survey carried out by INSEP, a nationwide data provider, 79% of all French people were said to support the new legislation. So maybe democracy has ruled after all.
France is a nation of paradoxes. Apart from Italy the French smoke the most in Europe and yet they boast Europe's most efficient health service and also enjoy one of the longest life expectancy rates. Italy also has an extremely high life expectancy rate leading one to believe that a balanced diet rather than a smoking habit is the true nature of the problem.
Another paradox might be that Sarkozy, France's super energetic President, said he would do everything within his means to "protect small businesses." So why have small tabac cafés and water pipe, or 'chicha' bars been included in this legislation? After all the only people that ever go into these kind of bars are smokers. This law will effectively ruin the livelihood of hundreds of tabac and 'chicha' bar owners in France, many of which risked their entire livelihood to come over to the country and set up their own business.
And what about those tiny French villages where all people do is sit about sipping Beaujolais and puffing cigaretts all day? Whether one agrees with this kind of behavior or not, do politicians reserve the right to dictate over the individual's daily routine?
Cafés and restaurants are one thing, but hard-core smoking hideouts are another. Is this new law guilty of an authoritarian wiff? Most of us will probably use the excuse that the people are free to do what they like in their own private property.
Property really is nine tenths of the law!
