Rookverbod gaat in rook op !
Grieken kunnen veel opgeven, maar niet 't roken
Almost one year after smoking restrictions were applied in public spaces, in line with European Union legislation, little has changed in Crete, as with the rest of the country, The Khronicles discovered.
Although an awareness campaign was well received by the public in the countdown to the ban going into effect last July, the necessary reforms have not been carried out to ensure that the restrictions are enforced.
As a result, smoking continues in most bars and cafes, public offices and hospitals, according to Panayiotis Behrakis, the head of a steering committee set up to oversee the implementation of the restrictions.
Here in north-eastern Crete, the problem is even more wide-spread than Athens, all due to lack of enforcement.
Yiannis Kyriakakis, adjutant in the Iraklion Police Department, admitted that about the only place the no smoking law is strictly enforced in Crete "is in our own headquarters."
"The Iraklion police department did not have any further orders or clarifications from the Health Ministry," he said.
At the Iraklion public health agency, Mrs. Ioanna Altantaki, a public health supervisor, said that "the enforcement of the antismoking law, up until now, has been carried out by controllers from Athens.
"But starting this summer a national antismoking law will be liberally enforced," she declared.
When told of Mrs. Alantaki’s warning, many local residents were skeptical that the law will ever be enforced..
“It doesn't seem strange to me that once again a new law gets lost in this country,” Nikos Haritakis, a pensioner from Malia. “There is always an excuse for anything new to fail here. Also, the Greek man can quit a lot of habits but smoking is a difficult one to beat."
Nikos Petrakis, a college student from Alikarnassos, said: "From the start it appeared that the anti-smoking law did not have any gravity, for it to be taken seriously by all. Whenever I go out to party, everyone smokes and no businessman dares say anything because they are frightened of losing their clientele, particularly now with the crisis.”
Mrs. Evangelia Haniotaki, a schoolteacher from Hersonissos said: “I cannot understand with what criteria each government tries to impose laws when there are no infrastructures to support them. They just mock the citizens. This is what happens when there is no education and responsibility in a country. And that's why Greece is in this terrible place. There is no discipline and illegality has struck red. Even if harder measures are imposed this summer, again nothing will be accomplished."
One Iraklion official observed that people will continue to smoke at will “and it seems that no one is interested in imposing the law. In cases like this, maybe the government should either repeal the law or enforce it, because this widespread flaunting of not conforming to the regulation simply reinforces a culture of lawlessness."
The official went on to say that with the coming of the tourist season, with many visitors coming from countries that strictly enforce the no smoking law, Crete will suffer from further negative publicity.
It's ironic, but like democracy, Greece is also the forerunner of anti-smoking laws. By royal decree in 1856, smoking was banned in government buildings as a safeguard against fires. It is believed that many of the buildings burned to the ground.
Bron: Ko Go
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