Is Bulgaria's Smoking Ban 'Door in the Fields'?


There is a popular saying in Bulgarian that 'the law is like a door in the fields, and only fools choose to go through it'. 

Small wonder Spas Panchev, MP of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Spas Panchev did not hesitate to make a rather weird statement. 

if the restriction upon smoking in enclosed public spaces is not observed, this means that the law is not working, therefore it is useless and could be scrapped. 

Thus spoke the Socialist MP. 

This statement, especially when made by a politician, sounds odd to say the least. Say, a murder is not punished justly. Does that mean that since the law is not properly enforced, this law is weak and thus it is no longer needed? Well, then we might as well not prosecute murderers anymore...

In fact, people are already used to not smoking inside public spaces, and even smokers approve of this situation.

Who and why needs to bring back the liberal regime now, long after the introduction of the effective ban? Why should we do so? This raises suspicions of both lobbyism and populism. If so, the scheme is easy to see.

 

Source: Author: Ventsislav Zhekov, http://www.novinite.com