After months of intense negotiations, the Germany government led by Angela Merkel last week announced plans to ban smoking in restaurants, dance clubs, schools and other public buildings.
Then, two days later, leaders of Germany’s government, which crafted the ban, warned they might not have the authority to actually enact it, and that smoking regulation might fall to state governments instead. The plan is now on hold indefinitely.
Germany, which has stubbornly resisted European Union pressure to limit smoking agitated against international smoking regulations and defied EU rules on tobacco advertising. The nation’s politicians have long argued that strong curbs on tobacco place too much constraint on personal freedom.
This is especially significant to the German people, because the last German government to try to ban smoking was the one run by a certain Adolph Hitler.
