Italy’s health minister‘s proposals to extend the smoking ban to include outdoor areas of bars and parks, local media reported, angering right-wing cabinet colleagues who branded him a “communist”.
Minister Orazio Schillaci, a technocrat with no party affiliation, said in January he would crack down on smoking, including e-cigarettes, which are widely used by teenagers.
The new rules will include outdoor areas of bars and public transport stops, La Stampa newspaper reported on Monday. The ban will also extend to parks if pregnant women and children are present, it said.
Culture Minister Vittorio Sgarbi, known for expressing his views in a flamboyant style, called Schillaci’s opinion “intimidating” and said such bans would encourage people to smoke instead.
“This is something typical of an authoritarian and dictatorial communist regime,” Sgarbi told AdnKronos.
Italy’s top health institute (ISS) said about 24% of Italian adults – roughly 12.4 million people and the highest percentage recorded since 2009 – were smokers last year. The government approved a ban on indoor smoking in 2003, which came into force two years later.
The Fondazione Umberto Veronesi health association estimates that at least 43,000 people die each year in Italy from smoking-related causes.
But the proposed crackdown also faces skepticism from Deputy Prime Minister and League party leader Matteo Salvini, who quit smoking four years ago but said the ban on outdoor e-cigarettes was “excessive”. E-cigarettes are helping many people quit regular cigarettes,” he added on Twitter.
The Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for comment. The proposals would have to be approved by the cabinet before reaching parliament.
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