Balearic Parliament to ask the national Government to modify the Anti tobacco law

THE Balearic Parliament yesterday passed a bill calling on the national Government to take the necessary steps to modify the Antitobacco Law to allow the sale of cigarettes in shops in tourist areas, after unanimously passing the bill, presented by the Partido Popular (PP) and amended by the Majorcan Nationalists (PSM). Speaking about the proposal, the Balearic MP Miquel Munar highlighted the big financial losses which the ban on selling tobacco could mean for the businesses represented by Fecotur (the Federation of Associations of Commerce, Leisure and Catering). This Federation estimates that the Antitobacco Law could be responsible for the closing of between 1'200 and 1'500 businesses. The spokesperson for the PSM, Pere Sampol, asked the PP to accept their amendment to clarify that, in the first point of the proposal, the application to extend the selling of tobacco should refer to the so called “second line of distribution”, which is how the shops on the Balearic beaches are classified. The socialist MP Miquel Gascon said he was in favour of this initiative and said that his party are committed to defending this measure to their socialist colleagues in the national Congress. In this respect, Miquel Munar said that, in the case of this support not materialising, the Balearic MPs from the PP will present another parliamentary initiative to make the national Government modify the Law. The second point of the proposal asks the national Government to extend the time for adapting bars to the new law to 24 months.
The Balearic MP Miquel Nadal argued for the application of the national Antitobacco law in bars of less than 100 square metres instead of keeping the Balearic law which states that there should be smoking and non smoking areas which, in the judgement of his party, is useless in these bars. In spite of this, his party joined the rest of the parties in backing the proposal, which was unanimously approved by the House. During the debate, a group of representatives from Fecotur were present in the public gallery and applauded the various statements by the MPs.