Smoking in the European Parliament
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 14:23 
The European Parliament chamber yesterday afternoon.
As you can see there was no-one there, which is how I was able to wander in and take a photo.
My Brexit party contacts were back in Blighty, campaigning. In their absence I was given a tour of the building by a member of the team who I shall call ‘Tony’.
Tony, 23, is a smoker so after visiting the chamber we sought out the main smoking room which is a large, easily accessible room in the heart of the building.
When I say large, it wasn’t enormous but I’ve been in smaller cafes and restaurants. It felt like a canteen without the food.
It was quite busy too. There was a coffee machine and people were sitting and smoking at many of the tables.
There were no clouds of smoke but I did notice a difference in air quality as soon as I entered the room through a double set of doors.
Perhaps I got used to it or it improved as several people finished their cigarettes and left. Either way, it didn’t bother me.
Elsewhere there were small smoking booths, like the one below. Whatever your view of smoking, I really don’t see how anyone could object to having similar booths in enclosed public places in the UK, which raises an important point.
There is a lot wrong with the European Parliament, and I shall be gutted if the UK is still in the EU the next time I visit Brussels, but the accommodation of smokers within the main Parliament building should be applauded.
It may be too much of a compromise for some, but it seems to work for the people working there.
Why a similar policy can’t be adopted in the UK is a mystery but it’s a reminder that Brexit won’t cure all of Britain’s ills, one of which is an appalling addiction to petty regulations.
See also: MEPs enjoying a smoke in the European Parliament
Below: smoking booth in the European Parliament
Reader Comments (4)
Separate smoking facilities are the minimum acceptable accommodation. They should be well maintained and well ventilate. Ideally, all facilities should have accommodation for smokers and the persecution of smokers will come to an end.
European countries have not promoted the same kind of hate campaign against smokers. No country is as spiteful towards people who smoke than the UK. Not only are separate and well ventilated smoking areas possible, they should be compulsory if the UK wants to continue claiming to be inclusive and tolerant of all and accepting of those who self identify. It seems the only self identification in the UK that is verboden is to identify oneself as a smoker - an identity, incidentally, forced upon us to target us for socisl exclusion, intolerance and discrimination.
UK authorities attitudes to smokers are not only cruel but highlight the massive hypocrisy of virtue signalling institutions in acceptance of snyone except smokers who they take great pleasure and satisfaction in abusing.
UK policy towards smokers is indeed awful and possibly the worst in Europe; but (unfortunately) no one who's been to the USA, Canada, and Australia would say it's the worst in the world.
To be more specific: in the UK you can actually still smoke OUTSIDE a pub . . . and often you can vape inside. Though who knows for how long.
You are right of course Joe. Britain is the worst in Europe. I would never visit Australia, Canada or the USA because I would thoroughly resent having to pay as much as anyone else to be treated as third class scum.
The last time I was in America was 1999 when SF imposed it's smoking ban. I went to a bar and asked the bartender if it was really true that smoking was banned in bars because it seemed so extreme. He said it was true as he reached below the counter for an ashtray and said : "but this is my bar and I say you can smoke."
I wonder if he still allows it or if, like in the UK if you know where to look, he holds a smokers' lock in after hours.
Personally, I prefer to say fcuk the lot of them, save my money, and spend it all abroad in Europe where I have found tolerance and compassion still exist.
As for vaping, what good is that for smokers who don't like it and want to resist being forced to it simply because their choice has been removed and vaping has been weaponised to force them to quit or switch. Vaping is not a choice if one has to do it because they are banned from smoking. Smokers smoke. People who smoke vape. It is not the same.