Austria is Europe’s Ashtray …
VOCABULARY
Just as Britain is the laughing stock of the world, due to the ridiculous negotiations on Brexit, Austria is the laughing stock because of the government’s inability to ban smoking completely in restaurants, discos and bars. When I wrote an article in 2015 titled "Is Austria Europe’s Ashtray?" politicians had already wasted a lot of taxpayers’ money by changing restaurants and bars to accommodate smokers and non-smokers. They promised full prohibition of smoking in these places, which was due to come into force in May 2018. Now, Heinz-Christian Strache, a smoker who has tried to quit many times, has managed to overturn the ban and has proudly announced that it is an excellent solution that has secured the existence of small restaurants – but what about the health of the Austrian people? Is that of no importance to the black-blue coalition?
Most European countries banned people from smoking in such places years ago. The British and the French in 2007 and even the Italians, who don’t take kindly to being told what to do, managed to implement a complete ban in 2005. But not Austria! The country that is so health conscious and strict on environmental issues and cleanliness is once again giving in to smokers. Even though we are all aware of the dangers of this bad habit, nothing has changed. Smoking is especially dangerous for passive smokers, of which thousands die per year in Austria and 900,000 (mainly children) worldwide.
According to the Eurostat statistics agency, Austria has the highest level of female smokers in the European Union and the seventh-highest of male smokers. It has the highest percentage of 15-year-old smokers in the whole of Europe and the average age at which a child starts smoking is 11. It is about time that politicians stopped being so wishywashy and looked at the statistics.
I first noticed that there was a great problem when I came to Austria, over three decades ago. I was really looking forward to working as a ski guide in Saalbach. Everyone outside of Austria pictures Austrians as being clean living and very health conscious. I had conjured up a picture of this Alpine region being full of healthy people, only to find out that nearly everyone smoked – in the restaurants, bars and discos. I have honestly never seen so many young people smoking, at one time and in one place, in England. Austria seems to have become Europe’s ashtray, once again, as hundreds of Bavarians cross the border each day to be allowed to smoke in Austrian bars.
It is obvious where the attraction first comes from. When my son was at grammar school, in Salzburg, I was horrified to see that the older students were allowed to stand in front of the school, in designated areas, smoking like crazy. Some of them couldn’t even wait until they had reached the area and had their fag hanging out of their mouths, at the ready. Of course, this looks really grown up, glamorous and exciting to an 11-year-old. When I challenged the head master about this, as in the UK even posters showing someone smoking a cigarette were banned from within a mile radius of the school, he thought it was quite normal to let the older pupils smoke in front of the younger ones. "It had always been that way."
It would be wiser to use the millions of euro that young people pay annually for cigarettes, on a campaign to help them beat this terrible habit. However, as the state pockets €1.8 billion per year in taxes on tobacco and cigarettes, it is hardly surprising that they don’t want to ban it.
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