A year after the French ban on smoking in workplaces, airports, hospitals, railway stations and schools came into effect, the great bastion of the diehard smoker, café tabacs, is due to become part of the smoke-free zone. From 1 February, despite vehement protests, it will be illegal to light up the likes of a Gitane or Gauloise in all French cafés, night clubs and restaurants.

Last month about 10,000 tobacco sellers marched from Montparnasse station to the National Assembly in a demonstration that was unfortunately timed, as it was swallowed up by the mass of transport strikes in Paris aimed at Nicholas Sarkozy’s reforms. Not that the French President should be blamed for this smoking ban, as it was already on the statute book before he took office.

The confederation of French tobacco sellers fears that if their clientele can no longer have a cigarette with their coffee, they may not patronise cafés at all, and the sale of tobacco and other kiosk products may collapse entirely. Their president, René le Pape, asked for a delay so that establishments could set up ventilated smoking rooms. He made this proposal to the French health minister, Roselyne Bachelot, but found her in no mood to compromise. Even rural cafes in small villages where there is no alternative gathering place will not be exempt, and the French Parliament’s own little kiosk will no longer stock cigarettes from next February. 

It is estimated that 12 million people in France smoke and there are 65,000 recorded smoking-related deaths per year, plus 5,000 further deaths attributable to being simply in close proximity to someone who smokes.

From our December 2007 e-newsletter