Some Greek MPs are fuming over colleagues who openly flout the country’s anti-smoking laws in the very building where the statutes were passed.
A cross-party group of 88 has complained to the Parliament Speaker, urging action against a “pathetic and infuriating” state of affairs.
Greece has one of the European Union’s highest smoking rates. It introduced a strict law in 2010 to outlaw smoking in enclosed public areas backed with fines of up to €500.
It was the third anti-smoking law passed in recent years, but people still light up freely in bars, cafes, restaurants – and Parliament.
The MPs wrote that, apart from assembly halls, at times there is “not a single square metre” in Parliament where the law is not broken.