Bell tolls for the era of the overflowing ashtray in Macedonia, as politicians get tough on puffing in public.

By Nevena Angelovska in Skopje (13-Jan-06)

Dusan shakes as he walks nervously around the office. As of this month, his workplace has no smokers' corner. "Its frustrates me to have to go on the terrace or in the street to smoke," he says, adding, "Respecting the rights of non-smokers means I can't fulfill my own right to smoke."

Dusan regrets the sudden onslaught on smoking in public in Macedonia. But the government says it is only following a European trend, from Spain to Ireland, which has seen smoking all but eliminated from restaurants, pubs, clubs and offices.

Since the start of 2006, Skopje has finally started enforcing an anti-smoking law which had previously been largely ignored since being passed more than ten years ago.

The law bans smoking in all public places outside designated areas, outlaws advertisements for cigarettes and curbs the sale of cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18 and in outlets near schools and hospitals.

Businesses found to be in violation of this legislation can face fines of 100,000 to 250,000 denars, between about 1,940 and 4,850 United States dollars. Individuals who break the law can be charged between 5,000 and 15,000 denars, around 100 to 300 dollars.

The law, passed in 1995, remained a dead letter owing to the power of the tobacco lobby in this tobacco-growing country.

Macedonia has also signed an international convention for the control of tobacco, though the parliament has yet to ratify it. The agreement obliges manufacturers to place health warnings on packets informing buyers of the potentially fatal consequences of their habit.

The change has been a long time in coming. Ten years after the anti-smoking law was passed, two deputies from the ruling Social Democrats, Ivan Anastasovski and Slavica Grkovska, proposed amendments to the law in the hope that it would then be enforced.

Parliament supported them almost unanimously. But there was further delay as the government gave employers six months to adapt offices, bars and restaurants to the new regulations.

Mr Anastasovski says it is better late than never. "I was really happy when I saw even hardcore smokers among the parliamentarians smoking only in designated areas," he said. "Those who voted for the law have to set an example."

Government health inspectors are less happy, saying the law is incomplete and unclear.

They say it has failed to specify the size and appearance of special smoking areas and how smoking and non-smoking areas in cafés should be separated.

The proprietors of such businesses are equally mystified. "I don't know how the two areas should be divided," said café owner Goran Indriovski.

If the hospitality trade is struggling to adapt to new and imprecise circumstances, the change has already come to other areas.

In hospitals there are no more ashtrays, smoking among personnel is allowed only in separate rooms and patients may only smoke outdoors.

"I smoke, but as doctor I support the law - there is no need for non-smokers to be poisoned with smoke because of me," said Dr Dragana Petrovska, from the Skopje neurology clinic. "Doctors should be in the front row of the fight against the smoking, because cigarettes really damage health."

The same change is apparent in government offices. "We have to stick to areas where smoking is allowed," said Zana Sokarovska, from the finance ministry. "It's no problem for me because I never smoked in the office anyway," she added.

Workers in small companies that have no space for special smoking areas now make do with the street.

Street cleaners in Macedonia . like their counterparts in Spain - complain that this has increased their work, as areas outside office doorways turn into outdoor ashtrays.

Moreover, many cafes are obeying the letter but not the spirit of the legislation, setting aside a couple of tables with no-smoking signs but leaving everything else to the smokers.

The two groups may sit at separate tables but the smoke drifts everywhere and is shared by everybody.

In some cafes waitresses even move the no-smoking signs around in accordance with guests' wishes.

The problem is that the change is essentially unpopular. More than 50 per cent of the adult population of Macedonia smokes and the rate is 20 per cent even among high-school pupils.

"The no-smoking areas are often empty," complains Kristijan Nikolovski, owner of one café in Skopje.

"This was not the right solution and cannot last," he added. "What happens at a crowded weekend if someone lights up in a no-smoking area? I will be guilty. That means I have to hire bodyguards, or call the police. I live off my customers and a full café."

Restaurant owners have the biggest problem. How can they attract customers for long evenings over a traditional mixed platter known as "meze", washed down with powerful "rakija", if diners may not smoke?

Wedding caterers also face a dilemma, unable to adapt traditional seating arrangements to separate smokers and non-smokers.

Macedonia 's hitherto beleaguered non-smokers, like 32-year-old Aleksandra, are now smiling, however. "I support the law," she said. "Previously when I came home from work my clothes smelled of cigarettes. I felt like a walking ashtray."

And some say they have been persuaded to give up. "I have now quit smoking," 27-year-old Hari said. "The new law was not the primary reason for this but it influenced me," he added.

Jelena, another former passionate smoker, is also walking around without her cigarettes. "This law . and the fact that I can't smoke at work any more . encouraged my decision," she said.

Others, like 30-year-old PR manager Branka, insist the new law will not change their habits "I cannot imagine my day without two packets of cigarettes," she said. "This law abbreviates my democratic rights."

"I will not respect the law because it is scandalous," agreed Marko, demanding, "Should I sit at home and hide because I can't smoke in public freely?"

For all the defiance of the militant smokers . and the discrete sabotage of the law practiced by many café owners . the trend is one-way.

Scientists are adamant that passive smoking poses a serious risk to public health and that non-smokers inhaling other people's smoke have a 30-per-cent higher risk of getting lung cancer than those breathing clean air.

Macedonia has started a public awareness campaign against passive smoking under the motto "With passive smoking, nothing is passive", while the price of cigarettes has gone up by 20 per cent.

The real test of the new law will be whether anyone is punished for breaking it.

In the meantime, Macedonia's hardened smokers cling to the hope that the crackdown will be a flash in the pan.

Nevena Angelovska is a regular contributor to Balkan Insight.