Proposals from Federal Minister of Health, Frank Vandenbroucke, as part of his interfederal anti-tobacco plan, are causing tensions with Belgium’s Horeca sector. Groups warn that new proposals made by the minister are putting jobs at risk.
The Federal Government is currently working on a ban on smoking rooms in businesses and semi-covered terraces. This has caused significant anger for the Brussels-Horeca Federation.
“For three years, the sector has encountered crises which have affected it head on,” Ludivine de Magnanville, president of the federation, told Le Soir. “As it were not enough, Minister Vandenbroucke is about to drive the point home, condemning hundreds of jobs in Brussels alone.”
The Federation says that the minister’s plans would lead to the closure of around 190 businesses in the capital alone. This mostly concerns shisha lounges. They argue this would just force these businesses underground, away from any “economic and health control.”
The proposed ban on semi-covered terraces would be a big hit for bars, many of whom have invested in infrastructure to welcome their smoking customers. The closure of smoking rooms in nightclubs would also likely force smokers onto the streets, increasing noise complaints and litter.
The federation believes that measures proposed by the government to fight against tobacco no longer attempt to prove health benefits and plough ahead with little anticipation of the negative impacts. The Federation says that it is “better to raise awareness than to prohibit and rob.”
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“Smoking is harmful but it remains a free choice. Either the government accepts this fact and invests in prevention, or the minister accepts his illiberal approach to politics and proposes a pure and simple ban on tobacco,” de Magnanville complained. The federation warned that these proposals would have severe “consequences” on the industry.
The Minister’s cabinet assured that the plans were not yet decisive and that the anti-tobacco proposals would be on the agenda of the Council of Ministers today. Le Soir, citing anonymous sources familiar with the proposals, said that there is no agreement yet on closing shisha bars or banning smoking on terraces.
