EU plans cause a stir

Smoking ban outdoors? “The greatest madness!”

Susanne Ruso (left) in front of "Café Ini" in Floridsdorf: "If smoking outdoors is banned, then I can close up shop".(Bild: zur Verfpgung gestellt)

The EU is discussing a ban on smoking in restaurants. We asked Viennese innkeepers, restaurant owners, coffee house operators and their guests. Even non-smokers are very opposed.

It is only a recommendation. But as is so often the case in the EU, a recommendation can quickly turn into a ban. In any case, the discussion about banning cigarettes in pavement cafés is making waves among the Viennese. Sascha Schützenauer, a non-smoker himself, has been running the "Amterl" on Floridsdorfer Spitz for 22 years. Many regulars, 80 percent of them smokers. "I myself am glad that people no longer smoke inside the restaurant, but a ban outside would be a horror. It would ruin everything," says the landlord, who focuses on Viennese cuisine.