The clothes smell better the next day. Passive smoking, however, is not okay and dangerous. Austria was once dubbed "the ashtray of Europe" but has finally banned smoking in restaurants, bars and cafes. And that is not going to be overwhelmed by the smoke, Of course it is better for me and my work. I think it is not a problem. VideoRisking lives for Christmas trees, playThe refugees feeding a nation. Austria is second to only Lithuania among OECD countries when it comes to daily alcohol consumption, thanks in part to low taxes and cheap booze. “So all sides are asked to come to the table and discuss possible solutions.” The result, he added, “is often something where nobody will be really satisfied [with], but nobody should hate it completely.”. “We demonstrated back in the ’80s,” Kunze says, “that price policies are the most important strategy to control tobacco.”. Vienna finally gets a smoking ban on November 1. Help us reach our goal by making a contribution to Vox today, from as little as $3. — Austria is also known as the “ashtray of Europe,” with a population that “must be among Europe’s worst educated about tobacco.” People can smoke here, and just about everywhere. Last May came a surprising twist in the story of Austria’s long road to a smoking ban: Strache, then the Freedom Party leader, was caught on tape appearing receptive to trading government contracts for positive news coverage with a woman posing as a Russian oligarch. A law came into effect on 30 May 2007 restricting smoking in closed public areas and outlawing the advertisement of tobacco, although the measure was reportedly poorly enforced in the country until 2013. It’s also illegal to smoke in your own car when any occupant is under the age of 18. (This, I can attest, results in establishments that are still pretty smokey.) The decision was opposed by Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, tobacco store owners, and the leisure and gastronomy industries, among others. Many Western countries have banned smoking in bars and restaurants, but Austria is bucking that trend. Some restaurants and cafes went non-smoking several years ago, but others allowed smoking until the last possible minute. Up until now, smoking had been legal in small bars and restaurants, and allowed smoking rooms in hospitality venues larger than 50 square meters. “[This was] a typical ‘Austrian solution’ as we would say here,” says Jakob-Moritz Eberl, a political science researcher at the University of Vienna. A tradition of dominant influence of the tobacco industry, coupled with a strong resistance from tobacconists, the hospitality sector, and parts of the population, impeded for a long time, any effective, comprehensive tobacco control legislation. “We have 500 shisha bars with several hundred employees in Austria — they will be wiped out,” he says. Not everyone shares Dobcak’s sentiments. Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO) said a planned ban on smoking in all bars and restaurants due to come into force in mid-2018 will be scrapped. Austria should not be called the „Europe’s ashtray“ anymore. Customers wishing to eat in the non-smoking area at the back had to walk through the smoky bar to get there. Austria had been on the … VideoThe refugees feeding a nation, playThe biggest selling single of all time. Tobacco harms the health, the treasury, and the collective spirit of Austria. And yet — and yet! 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