Smoking and vaping could soon be banned at outdoor cafés under a proposed Spanish law, and many Madrid residents and students are outraged.
“It’s something integral to Spanish culture,” Brenna O’Connell, a 22-year-old SLU-Madrid student, said. She said it is “absurd” to try to ban smoking on terraces because half the reason people go out is to have something to drink, smoke and relax.
If passed by parliament, the law would gradually take effect before 2028, according to the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.
Under the bill, passed by the prime minister´s cabinet in September, the smoking and vaping ban would include bar terraces, playgrounds, sports facilities, swimming pools, public transport stations and shelters, educational centers, and anywhere within a 15-meter perimeter of healthcare, education, and social service buildings, La Vanguardia reported.
“I don’t think vapes are as bad,” said Leonor Vélez, a 27-year-old office worker from Madrid with an IQOS in her hand, “since you aren’t smoking tobacco, and other people can’t inhale the smoke.”
Single-use vapes will also be banned due to their environmental impact. These devices are heavily marketed toward youth, with brands like Lost Mary promoting flavors such as Cotton Candy Ice and Rosé Lemonade.
“We already stopped selling most of the flavored vapes,” said Elena Morales, an estanquera in La Latina. “Every week there’s a new rule. I can’t even keep track anymore.”
Spain is attempting to reduce the prevalence of smoking, as it claims the lives of 140 people a day, according to the Spanish Health Ministry. Officials were also concerned about rising respiratory illnesses this past summer, according to Sanitas, a health insurance company.
The proposal mirrors measures adopted in France earlier this summer, though Paris stopped short of including café terraces and e-cigarettes in its restrictions.
Other European countries, such as Belgium and Portugal, are moving in a similar direction, the Madrid Metropolitan reported.
“I am a smoker, so part of the reason I like to go out is so I can sit outside and smoke,” Lei Xiang, a 35-year-old wine-bar owner, said. If the ban is passed, she said she could smoke on the street corner, but she would prefer to be at a restaurant. Xiang enjoys relaxing outdoors with her friends. But Xiang said she does not believe the ban will affect businesses the way people think it will.
“My bar does not have a terrace, so of course I’m not personally worried,” she said. “But I don’t think it will stop business at bars that do.”She said that people were just as afraid before the indoor smoking ban in 2011.
“It ended up being fine, and I think this one will, too,” she said.
Other smokers, such as Samuel Hernandez, a 30-year-old business owner, said that while he opposes the ban, he understands why people are pushing for it. “I am able to put myself in others’ shoes, and I know it can be unpleasant,” Hernandez said.
Marta Garcia, a 26-year-old Spaniard living in Usera, attributed anger at the ban to Spanish culture. “Many people are social smokers, and Spanish culture is very much around socializing,” Garcia said. “People are going to resort to smoking indoors, and I don’t think that’s necessarily the solution either.”
But many Spaniards welcomed the ban. “In public places with lots of people, like Sol, I think it’s good that there are restrictions, especially for children,” said Ainara Martín Santana, a high school student living with her parents and her two younger sisters, none of whom smoke.
Paula Férnandez Horcajo, a Madrid grad student from Valencia. expressed relief. “I stopped smoking around a year ago, and now, I can’t stand it when someone blows that awful smoke in my direction,” Horcajo said. “I didn’t realize how much it could annoy people before, but it feels intolerable now that I quit.”
At Cuboking, a popular bar near campus, Óscar Giménez, a student from Universidad Complutense, said he looked forward to less smoke in the air. “I get that some people are frustrated, but so are the people who constantly get the smell of cigarettes in their face,” he said.
