Spain's smoke-filled bars, corner cafes and restaurants are on the verge of extinction after lawmakers on Tuesday approved a tough new anti-smoking law that will rid the country of its reputation as one of Western Europe's easiest places to light up.
The bill, proposed by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his governing Socialist Party, passed in a 189-154 vote that also rejected a Senate amendment to allow casinos to have smoking areas.
Starting Jan. 2, the interiors of all bars and restaurants will be transformed into no-smoking zones, bringing Spain in line with the European Union's strictest anti-smoking nations and many U.S. states that ban smoking in enclosed public places.
The law will make Spain a tougher place to smoke than EU countries where bars and restaurants are still allowed to have smoking sections. It will also prohibit smoking in outdoor places such as playgrounds and the grounds of schools and hospitals.
Bar and cafe owners will now lose that privilege, and larger restaurants that have separate smoking sections will have to get rid of them. Officials predict the thousands of lives that would have been lost to secondhand smoke will now be saved.
