In Europe, there are interesting phenomena of smoking. There is the only country where women buy cigarettes online and smoke more than men. This country is Denmark, where 19.3% of women and 18.9% of men smoke.
In fact, in Europe in general, there is the largest percentage of women smokers and the smallest gap in the smokers’ percentage ratio between the genders of smokers who buy cigarettes online.
Another phenomenon happened in Austria.
As part of a law passed in 2015, Austria should have completely banned smoking in public places, but the new government of the country, formed by the Conservatives of the People’s Party and the right of the Freedom Party, abandoned these plans.
The initiator of the cancellation was the leader of the Freedom Party, vice-chancellor Heinz Christian Strache, who declared in January in parliament that the ban on smoking restricts the freedom of choice of citizens.
Restaurants, Strache said, should have the freedom to choose whether they need a room for smokers, where a citizen decides if it is preferable to enjoy a coffee, cigarette, pipe or cigar.
In Kleines Café, an ashtray stands on each marble table, and the air is gray from tobacco smoke.
One of the guests of the restaurant, Peter Neuver, believes that Austria has always liked to turn back time: “The inhabitants of Vienna consider that they are special, and that smoking is an important part of their culture.”
Peter Dobkek from the Vienna Chamber of Commerce calls himself a supporter of the abolition of the ban on smoking. But notes that the views of restaurant owners on this account are divided.
“Many restaurants here prefer to allow their guests to smoke,” he says.
“The higher-level restaurants supported the ban,” Dobkek adds. “Bars, discos and clubs are mostly on the side of smokers: because the law forces people to go out with a cigarette, this leads to noise at a later time.”