Posted on 04/01/2018 2:53:32 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Austria’s lower house of parliament voted on Thursday to scrap an impending ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, backing the coalition government despite opposition from health campaigners and opposition parties.
The ban is due to come into effect in May and would bring Austria more into line with fellow European Union countries, many of which have far stricter smoke-free legislation, including Britain, Hungary and Bulgaria.
More than half a million people in Austria have signed an official petition calling for the ban to go ahead, embarrassing the ruling coalition of conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which has championed both the freedom to smoke and direct democracy.
An FPO demand to have the ban scrapped was written into the coalition agreement struck three months ago. Now that parliament has approved the bill, it must still be approved by the upper house and signed by the president. It is widely expected to pass both. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
God forbid people should have a choice whether to patronize a smoking or non-smoking establishment. Oh yeah, and Britain is a real model for freedom to be emulated.
What a convoluted headline, to make a government ban on personal choices seem the baseline, instead of an imposition.
Liberals DO NOT believe in choice. Except when 'choice' is the right to murder your child.
Hitler was the first to ban smoking in public.
Restaurants should have the freedom to choose whether or not to ban smoking.
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