Smoke-free E.U.

Brussels

The European Commission has announced that smoking will be banned on its premises starting May 1. It promises to be a tough transition for members and employees of the E.U.’s executive body—particularly the Greek and Italian delegations, whose offices operate in a constant smoky haze. The commission has already begun an aggressive anti-smoking campaign to help its employees quit over the next nine months. Counseling will be free, and the cost of nicotine patches will be subsidized. The commission said it would institute the ban next spring, earlier than originally planned, because that’s when 10 new members will join the E.U. Eight of them are former communist countries where heavy smoking is common. “It would be psychologically easier for new colleagues to come to a nonsmoking environment from the beginning,” the commission said, “rather than to be permitted to smoke for a few months and then be faced with a ban.”

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