Fuming French stub out Macron's smoking ban: The smokers ignoring crackdown on lighting up in public places as Emmanuel bids to create tobacco-free generation

Daily Mail​

14-07-2025

French smokers are still grappling with new laws introducing a blanket ban on smoking in public places.
The ban, covering beaches, parks, public gardens and bus shelters, is aimed at protecting children from the harms of second-hand smoke.
But it continues to divide opinion, with just 62 per cent supporting the move, according to a survey conducted before it took effect on July 1.
Smokers on the Plage des Catalans in Marseille were reminded of their obligations by loudspeaker last week when told to move on to a raised concrete area off the beach.
But one retired brasserie owner said she was promptly told to move by police who seemed not to understand the scope of the new rules, The Times reports.
The ban is not supposed to outlaw smoking on pavements or highways.
Conversely, those working on the beaches say people are still lighting up by the sea regardless, despite local bans having been in place for years.
A lifeguard told the outlet that he had stopped a handful of people during a short patrol.
Marseille has been fining smokers for lighting up on beaches since 2019, clearly marking out affected areas with signs.
The lifeguard told The Times that the problem was people still 'didn't respect it'.
But those violating the ban now stand to be fined €135 (£117) - three and a half times the €38 fine initially floated in Marseille.
France has its work cut out in trying to move away from glamourised cinema portraits of artists, philosophers and movie stars smoking cigarettes and sipping coffee against the Paris skyline.
When France brought in its new law, it excluded café terraces from the ban.
And government crackdowns on tobacco use have already met resistance.
'In France, we still have this mindset of saying, "This is a law that restricts freedom,"' Philippe Bergerot, president of the French League Against Cancer, told the Associated Press.
The ban aims 'to promote what we call denormalisation. In people's minds, smoking is normal,' he said.
'We aren't banning smoking; we are banning smoking in certain places where it could potentially affect people's health and ... young people.'
The rules extend a ban on smoking in entertainment venues brought in around the time Britain also introduced its comprehensive smoking ban.
In 2008, France outlawed smoking in establishments like restaurants and nightclubs.
The country had planned to introduce widespread measures to extend this to public places last year, but the decree needed was never adopted.
Some 1,500 municipalities brought in their own rules banning smoking on public beaches instead.
Data still varies. A report by the French League Against Cancer found that almost 80 per cent of French people support a ban on smoking in public places like beaches and terraces.
While more than 30 per cent of French adults still smoke cigarettes, most of them daily, the government is aiming to move towards a 'tobacco-free generation' from 2032.
The Health Ministry is particularly concerned that tobacco remains popular among young people, citing public health statistics showing that 15 per cent of 17-year-olds smoke. Black market cigarette trading is common.
Noting that 90 per cent of young people start smoking before the age of 18, France is taking measures to limit the flavours of vaping products and reduce the level of nicotine allowed in them.
And France has banned the sale, manufacture and distribution of single-use vapes.
E-cigarettes are, nonetheless, exempt from the ban.
A notice announcing the ban online reminds citizens: 'Tobacco use kills 75,000 people in France every year, or more than 200 deaths a day.'