Czech PM furious after coalition partner lawmakers block anti-smoking bill

Philip Morris CR as

25/05/2016 15:54

* Lower house shoot down government proposal for smoking ban 
    * Members of centrist ANO party vote against ban 
    * Opponents say ban attacks culture, personal freedom 
 
    PRAGUE, May 25 (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav 
Sobotka on Tuesday berated members of ruling coalition partner 
ANO for blocking a government-proposed anti-smoking bill in 
parliament, calling their vote against a national ban a 
"disgrace". 
    The proposed ban on smoking in restaurants would have 
brought Czech anti-smoking legislation up to speed with the 
majority of its fellow European Union members. Of the 28-member 
bloc, 17 have comprehensive smoke-free laws in place. 
    But critics, including the main opposition party the 
conservative Civic Democrats, see a ban on smoking as an attack 
on the Czech Republic's culture and on personal freedom. In the 
last decade, several attempts to introduce sweeping anti-smoking 
legislation have failed. 
    Opponents of the bill also argued that a ban would result in 
bars being forced out of business, especially in villages where 
they are still a main gathering place for the community. 
    Sobotka said ANO lawmakers who voted against the ban, even 
after the party's ministers had supported the initiative in an 
earlier cabinet vote, had gone against the ruling coalition's 
programme. On Twitter, he called the result a "disgrace". 
    Of the centrist ANO party's members who were present, 15 
voted against the ban, 13 in favour and 16 abstained. The ruling 
coalition comprises Sobotka's Social Democrats, ANO and the 
Christian Democrats.     
    Blocking the ban "assisted the tobacco lobby and harmed the 
interests of citizens," Sobotka said in a later statement, and 
called for a coalition meeting for ANO to explain its action.   
    ANO leader, billionaire Finance Minister Andrej Babis, 
defended members who voted against the ban, denying on Twitter 
that they had violated any coalition agreements in doing so. 
Babis was absent in Brussels at the time of the vote.  
    ANO Vice Chairman Jaroslav Faltynek told reporters that the 
version of the bill approved by the cabinet had been "good" but 
was then changed in parliament. 
    Opposition lawmaker Marek Benda said he was pleased with the 
result.       
    "I am glad members of parliament support our opinion and 
rejected further regulation in business and the limiting of our 
freedom," the Civic Democrats member said. 
    Parliament's decision goes against the opinion of most 
Czechs - according to a Charles University and Ipsos agency poll 
last year, 78 percent supported a ban.  
 
 (Reporting by Petra Vodstrcilova, Robert Muller and Jason 
Hovet; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) 
 ((jason.hovet@thomsonreuters.com; +420 224 190 476; Reuters 
Messaging: jason.hovet.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CZECH SMOKING/