Enforcement promised

Newly elected Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that he plans to keep his pre-election pledge to enforce his nation’s antismoking laws, according to The Greek Reporter.

Greece’s antismoking laws took effect on July 1, 2009, but enforcement has been patchy.

Although businesses displayed no-smoking signs at their establishments in compliance with the law, those who violated the law in restaurants and bars were rarely, if ever, cited for smoking.

One prevailing issue is that the national smoking prevalence rate in Greece has fallen from 40 percent in 2008 to 27 percent in 2014 due to the country’s economic hardships. However, many Greeks see the antismoking laws as the government’s way to interfere with their right to smoke. Some see that the prime minister’s promise could hurt him politically as smoking rates decreased naturally since the law went into effect.