The project, announced in their electoral agreement, of the new coalition government (between the Austrian People's Party and the Freedom Party) to maintain smoking areas in bars and restaurants faces a predictable outcry.
A PETITION REQUIRES A REFERENDUM ON SMOKING ZONES
According to our colleagues on the site The world of tobacco“, The anti-smoking announces, in all the media, that the“ decline ”of the new executive is perhaps not in conformity with the community regulations. The European Commissioner for Health, Lithuanian Vytenis Andriukaitis, would, it seems, be invited to pronounce on the subject in the weeks to come.
Mobilized for the occasion, some medical circles say "Shocked" and want to get in "Resistance". A petition launched on the Internet against "smoking areas" has collected a little over 400 signatures (the country has 000 million inhabitants). Its object: to demand from the government a referendum on the question.
The very right-wing FPÖ (Freedom Party), which asked for the freedom to maintain smoking areas in certain establishments, during the negotiations for the constitution of the coalition, is also campaigning for more direct democracy on the model of Switzerland. The idea of a referendum could therefore flourish. The current promoters of the referendum, on the other hand, had forgotten to think of the referendum when it came to planning the ban on smoking areas.
