Macedonia Moves to Make Smokers' Lives Easier

Macedonian MPs are proposing amendments to the current strict anti-smoking law to allow smoking inside cafés and restaurants if they meet certain conditions and have enough space for a special smoking section, no larger than 30 per cent of the entire establishment.

The current regulation only allows smoking on open terraces and outside cafes and restaurants, which the MPs who proposed the changes says deters smokers from visiting such establishments, especially during the winter months.

They say this is undermining the hospitality industry in a country where some half of the adult population puffs regularly.

"The hospitality sector faces a drastic fall in income [of around 75 per cent] when the weather conditions are not favourable [from late autumn to early spring]," MPs from the Social Democrat-led majority wrote in their proposition.

The strict smoking curbs drew flak right from when they were introduced in 2010 by the then ruling right-wing VMRO DPMNE party, which insisted on the need to prioritise people's health.

The then opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, deemed the measure draconian, however, and the Association of Tourism and Catering Industries even threatened to take the Law to the Constitutional Court, as they claimed it promoted discrimination.

"We have asked for changes for a long time, so this may ease our troubles … Many hospitality establishments face drastic falls in income during winter, either because they do not have open terraces, or must force people out into the cold regardless," the Association told BIRN.

People on the street have divided opinions about the practicality of the smoking ban.

"I got used to it [the ban] so I smoke outside. Now my clothes do not smell of...