THE WORLD FROM BERLIN
Jump to full article: Der Spiegel (de), 2008-07-31
Intro: German papers are predicting legal chaos throughout the land, with some commentators wondering -- again -- whether the government should regulate smoking at all.
The Financial Times Deutschland writes:
"The court's verdict has changed nothing about the absurd laws to 'protect non-smokers' in Germany. Instead, the exceptions are now even more absurd . . .
The left-leaning Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"The state parliaments … may now pass 'strict, exception-free smoking bans in bars and restaurants.' But when they decide to loosen the laws in certain cases and allow exceptions, they need to pay attention to the economic burdens placed on owners who can't fulfil those conditions -- like non-smoking rooms. So far so good. But the verdict upholds the status quo without addressing whether a general and absolute ban on smoking in restaurants and bars is constitutional."
"Germans can now assume it is constitutional -- but no one knows why the court has implicitly approved it. A general and absolute ban was not at issue in this lawsuit. The court's latest piece of jurisprudence is therefore as superficial as it is irritating."
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