Under pressure but still No.1

摘要

Greece is something of a paradox in the tobacco sector. Its citizens smoke more cigarettes per capita than anywhere else in the world, yet its government is increasing anti-smoking legislation and its long-established leaf-growing sector is shrinking towards virtual extinction.rnOn 1 December 2008, Greece's health minister Dimitris Avramopoulos announced that a ban on smoking in all public places in the country would be effective from 1 July 2009, bringing the deadline forward six months earlier than originally intended. The legislation will not only extend the ban on advertising to hospitals, surgeries, state and private education establishments plus canteens or restaurants; it will also make the sale of cigarettes to minors illegal.rnAlso, at the end of November, in what could be considered the last act of a Greek tobacco industry tragedy played out simultaneously in Brussels and Athens, Greek tobacco growers were told that there will be no more European Union (EU) production-linked subsidies from 2012. This followed months of debates in Brussels focused on the EU's Common Agriculture Policy 'health check' reforms. Greek growers demonstrated in Brussels as a resu they closed roads in Greece too, but it was obvious their heart was not in it.