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Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis has ordered the responsible authorities to strengthen the control over the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces in the weeks before Christmas as well as during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
    The Minister has asked the responsible agencies to carry out intensive checks at restaurants and bars, and to impose fines and issue administrative penalties if there is not a "No smoking" sign in the premises and if they notice ashtrays or establish the lack of a specific book, containing information on the checks carried out at the particular establishment. In the case of repeated violations, the responsible persons will be sued for systematically endangering public health.
    The checks will cover wholesale and retail shops, all establishments serving or selling food and beverages, hospital and wellness establishments, all transport means, bus, underground and railway stations, airports and ports, farms, all theatres, cinemas, music halls.
    Nevertheless, Greece is making progress in the fight against smoking. According to the Ministry of Finance in 2007, the Greeks smoked 34.663 million cigarettes. In 2012 this figure decreased to 19.370 million and it is expected that this year the Greeks will smoke less than 18 million cigarettes.
    A recent survey shows that 84% of Greeks believe that the fight against smoking is an important national goal and 74.4% agree that the insurance funds should pay for the medicines that help quit smoking. 70.5% of respondents want a ban on advertising of cigarettes. However, 92% of Greeks admit that, over the past year, they have witnessed a violation of the ban on smoking in public places at least once.