Anti-smoking law causes few sparks in Barcelona
January 22, 2006
BARCELONA, Spain—By Joe Ray, a freelance writer who lives in Paris
It was known as something of a smokers’ paradise. With relatively low prices and few restrictions on where people could light up, Spaniards smoked with an impunity that rivaled the French. People from across Europe would even trek to the Spanish border to buy cheap cigarettes in bulk, and visiting Americans often would develop a nasty little habit that lasted as long as their trip.
Things changed on Jan. 1.
Now, huddled in little groups on the sidewalk outside office buildings, the Spanish are looking more like Americans than like their neighbors to the north.
With a new workplace ban and sights set on small bars and restaurants in years to come, the changes are similar to what’s being put in place in Chicago.
In Spain, it is now illegal to smoke in work areas such as offices, shopping centers and schools. Restaurants larger than about 1,100 square feet must have smoking sections, but any bar or restaurant smaller than that—the vast majority of these kinds of establishments—has the choice to be smoking or non-smoking.
Antonio Plasencia, director general of public health for Spain’s Catalan region, describes the reactions to this two-step approach to cutting smoking. Plasencia, a doctor who received a master’s degree from Yale University, said that for something as potentially hard to swallow for some Spaniards, the change is going as well as could be hoped. Catalonia, he notes with a grin, was actually ahead of the rest of Spain on the no-smoking program and essentially waited a year for the rest of the country to catch up.
Plasencia said two of the government’s biggest fears are not coming to pass: Smokers are not feeling as if this is a vendetta against them, and there is little trouble getting businesses to implement the rules.
“We’ve heard of a few minor anecdotes,” he said in an interview in his office in Barcelona, “but even the press seems surprised at how smoothly it’s going.”
Indeed, the press seems keen on finding the anecdotes, but they are the exception here. Most of the government’s problems with the new rules seemed to be getting the word out in time and making sure people understood what was expected.
Plasencia got a hint of how smoothly things might go with numbers from a December poll taken by the regional government. More than 93 percent of participants had already heard about the new law, and 90 percent agreed with it, including more than 47 percent who thought it was an “excellent” idea. Many smokers even agreed with the idea, saying it would help them quit or smoke less.
Few fines for now
The relatively trouble-free reception may have a lot to do with relaxed enforcement in the beginning. Though inspectors are going out to make sure people are following the rules, few fines are being handed out for now. “We want to make sure that things are applied in the right way,” Plasencia said, “which means guiding businesses, not getting them in trouble.”
“This is just for a limited time,” he warns.
Another thing that might be breathing its last gasp is smoking in smaller establishments.
“There’s a chance that in 2007, people will be able to have a meal without smoking passively,” he said.
This gradual approach to curbing smoking seems to be the preferred route in this part of the world. Even in France, the squeeze is on, albeit slowly. Smoking in France is a national institution as hallowed as letting your dog go to the bathroom on the sidewalk without having to clean up the mess. There, the government favors a “tax it like crazy” approach.
This scheme also allows French citizens to keep the right to smoke where they please. Though “no smoking” sections exist in France, the overwhelming majority of them are a joke. It’s a sort of “least of multiple evils” scenario that seems to fit best in French society.
Back in Spain, losing the right to smoke in certain areas is going over without much uproar. Though there are definitely some trouble spots, it’s often welcomed with open arms.
Senyor Parellada, a classic Barcelona restaurant, is one of the places where the change is going over well. The large restaurant’s new smoking section has been tucked into an upstairs corner at a distance from the other diners on that floor. The smoke has a long way to go before it can reach non-smoking diners. In compliance with the new law, restaurant owners have until September to create a physical barrier around the smoking area and give it a separate air system.
“People actually like it. Very much,” said restaurant manager Ignacio Fernandez Gordon. “They’re even getting used to the idea that if they’re sitting in the non-smoking section, they will need to get up and go outside to smoke.”
Fernandez Gordon, who got a scoff from a co-worker when he said he smokes “only about a pack a day,” said he thinks the law could, and most likely will, go further.
“The best for the restaurant staff and for the clients would be to have no smoking in the restaurant at all,” he said.
Nearby, at Bar Daguiri, a bar and cafe on the beach overlooking the Mediterranean, it’s a different story. Because the place is smaller than 1,100 square feet, part-owner Albra Collado was allowed to choose whether smoking could continue there. Like many other smaller places in town, she chose to keep Daguiri a smoking establishment, and many customers take advantage of this.
“If you tell a client to go far away to smoke outside so he doesn’t bother the neighbors, you’re going to lose a client,” she said, referring to what she thinks would happen if smokers were forced outside.
“If this were a restaurant, it would be another story,” she said, “but it’s a bar. People come here to have a drink or a coffee,” and they often have a smoke with their drink.
What kind of reactions has she seen? “[In December,] the smokers were asking what would happen, but people have said absolutely nothing since.”
Voluntary ban
The government’s hope that some smaller bars and restaurants may prohibit smoking voluntarily isn’t entirely a pipe dream. Quim Perez, owner of Quimet & Quimet, a tapas bar, is one of the few owners of small places who has chosen to go smoke-free. In the first days of the new year, he posted an orange and black “no smoking” sign on his front window.
“People come in here to eat,” he said flatly. “If they want to smoke, they just have to do this,” he adds, “uno, dos, tres, cuatro—fumar.” Four steps bring him from the middle of the floor to the door, and he puts his hands to his lips like he’s taking a drag.
“It’s tiny in here, and we have to breathe it in all day, plus, people want to taste the food. I understand that it’s habit for people to have a smoke when they drink or after they eat—I smoke half a pack a day—but in here, it’s only logical.”
