ChristenUnie party trying to resurrect smoking ban in the Netherlands

Smoking is back on the political agenda in the Netherlands with the opposition party, ChristenUnie, planning to launch a new effort to have smoking banned in all cafés and bars, according to a DutchNews.nl story.

The Netherlands banned smoking in cafés, bars and clubs in 2008, but since then bars smaller than 70 square metres and with no employees were exempted following a high court ruling. The ruling said, in part, that since the smoking ban was introduced to protect staff, it did not apply to cafés that had no employees.

Health ministry research is said to have found that the ban is ‘widely’ flouted, with smoking accepted in 43 per cent of the country’s bars and 39 per cent of its discos, though it wasn’t clear whether the 43 per cent of bars included those that were exempt.
Now ChristenUnie is trying to have the blanket ban re-imposed, the Telegraaf reported on Saturday.
The paper says a slim majority of MPs support a total ban on smoking, though the ruling VVD opposes the move.

Parliament is to discuss smoking policy at the end of February.