CITOYENS ! FAITES VOTRE DEVOIR !
If You Must Smoke, Don't.

Je suis persuadé que l'interdiction est une mesure attendue.*
[I am convinced that the ban is something people want.]

Xavier Bertrand,
Ministre de la santé et des solidarités
PARIS August 23, 2006 (Times Online)

We’re governed by idiots.

Gérard Martini,
joint manager, L’Idéal Bar central Paris
Ibid.

Emboldened by Jack's huge uptick in popularity, the Health Minister has announced a smoking ban to go into effect January 1. But somewhere between the lofty perches of paternal government and the infantilized citizen groundlings, M. Betrand's surety simply evaporates. The French want to smoke. And they want to smoke as they please.

Nor is M. Bertrand's conviction strong enough to chance a bruising passage in the French legislature.

Amid signs of growing public exasperation with official campaigns against alcohol and tobacco, the minister also said the restriction would be introduced by decree rather than by legislation, thus avoiding an inflammatory parliamentary debate. ... Many backbenchers are urging him to ditch a measure which they say could cost the centre-right next year’s presidential and legislative elections.

This same ban was abandoned earlier this year by M. Betrand -- coincident with Dom's CPE train wreck and Jack's climbdown -- in favor of a "vast consultation" on the issue. A parliamentary report is due out in October, but why wait?

FRANCE MAY BAN PUBLIC SMOKING IN JAN;
TOO EARLY, LOBBIES SAY

August 23, 2006 (Bloomberg) - "There have been so many announcements and setbacks that I want to hear the ban decision from the Prime Minister himself,'' said Yves Bur, a member of Parliament who first proposed a smoking ban at companies in October 2005 and is a leading advocate of a broader prohibition of tobacco. ... "The government should wait for the lawmakers' report,'' Bur said. "It will help it make better decisions. Now it's making an unrealistic announcement.''

"This would be an authoritarian measure, given without notice, and is simply not feasible,'' said Andre Daguin, the president of the Hotels, Restaurants and Catering Union [Union des métiers et des industries de l'hôtellerie, UMIH].

Claude Evin**, who heads the parliamentary commission and is the lawmaker who produced France's 1991 law banning all tobacco related ads, said in an interview that the government needs to prepare the public for the ban and that he's not done with his report yet.

Ah, but this being France nothing conclusive is ever attempted without some contrary amendment.

Under [M. Bertrand's] plan, cigarettes will be forbidden in all public transport, restaurants, bistros, brasseries, cafes and hotels. However, they will be permitted in France’s 34,000 bars-tabacs - the bars with a state licence to sell tobacco.

The concession was criticised by Yves Martinet, chairman of the National Committee Against Tobacco Addiction [Comité national de lutte contre le tabagisme, CNCT]. "The message being sent out to the public is confused."

The French have legislated themselves a right to die (something that comes naturally to most of us). In France you may die as you choose [Slight pause.] as long as you don't choose to smoke.

It is with some amusement that we follow the conflicted French, conflicted between the comforts of Big Daddyism and the pleasure of a smoke. Related posts can be found here, here, and here.

* Gwladys Huret, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, suggests M. Betrand's comments are his alone, and it is premature to state government policy.

** La loi Evin (Loi no 91-32), promulgated January 12, 1991, contains provisions for the public segregation of smokers and non-smokers. The law is a beautiful gesture to an ideal of health, but few French establishments have been discommoded by its enforcement.

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