Greek PM heralds anti-smoking plan

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis officially launched the Health Ministry's national action plan against smoking on Tuesday, hailing it as a "bold initiative for protecting public health" that would "modernize and refine public life."
"The enemy is tobacco smoke, not smokers," Mitsotakis said during the presentation of the plan at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in southern Athens, pointing out that other countries including the US, France and Turkey have succeeded in banning smoking in public spaces and Greece can do the same by enforcing much-flouted legislation that was originally introduced in 2009. The past decade has seen 11 acts of legislation but zero results, he said. "This is the sad account of the indoor smoking ban, supposedly enacted in 2009," Mitsotakis said.
Citing official figures, Mitsotakis said that 94.6 percent of the population is...