1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
IranIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections

Germany Still Lighting Up

DW staff (sms)April 12, 2006

Smoking in Germany could become a little more difficult if Markos Kyprianou, the EU's commissioner for health and consumer protection, gets his way.

https://p.dw.com/p/8Fuv
Image: AP

Smoking in Germany could become a little more difficult if Markos Kyprianou, the EU's commissioner for health and consumer protection, gets his way.

He said he intended to take Berlin to court "as soon as possible" if Germany does not prohibit tobacco companies from sponsoring international cultural and sporting events and outlaw ads for tobacco products in print and on the Internet -- television commercials are already illegal.

"Advertising for tobacco products increases consumption," Kyprianou told the Berliner Zeitung. "Advertising and sponsoring glorify smoking. They create a mood in which cigarette consumption is seen as normal and acceptable."

Though Berlin has made small steps, including age controls on cigarette vending machines to curb youth smoking, Germany remains a nation of relatively keen smokers -- as visitors notice as soon as they walk though the cloud of smoke in the country's airports.

Read through the articles below to see what Germans have to say about the smoking debate.

Skip next section Reports & Analysis

Reports & Analysis

Much of Europe Bans Smoking; Germany Keeps Puffing Away

While Britain becomes the latest European country to prohibit smoking in public places, Germany seems adamant about clinging to the unhealthy habit.
February 19, 2006

Germany: European Smoker's Paradise

While nine European countries have already brought in comprehensive anti-smoking restrictions, Germany is one of those lagging behind.
January 21, 2006

Where There's Smoke, There's Germany

"Smoking can cause a slow and painful death" reads one of the new warnings on cigarette packets in Germany. But there is doubt as to just how seriously such in-the-face warnings are being taken.
January 25, 2004

Scaring Smokers Straight in Germany

A project in a Heidelberg hospital called "No Butts" is taking the scared-straight approach to curbing teenage smoking. On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, a look at an unusually straightforward program.
May 31, 2005

Germany's Close Ties to Big Tobacco

Top German researchers have been paid off by the tobacco industry to play down the health effects of smoking, a study says. Meanwhile, the federal government is fighting an EU ban on tobacco advertising.
December 6, 2005

Germans Trying to Talk Tough on Smoking

German politicians want to talk tough on smoking restrictions in restaurants and bars. But the smoker-friendly country shows no sign of following other European countries, most recently Italy, in banning it outright.
February 8, 2005

Germany Gets EU Slap on the Wrist over Tobacco Laws

The European Commission has warned Germany and Luxembourg that they need to toughen up its anti-tobacco laws in according with EU guidelines, or face legal action in the European Court of Justice.
February 2, 2006

Tobacco Companies See Clouds in Germany

Politicians want next year's World Cup smoke-free. More countries are banning smoking in public places, and tobacco advertising is on the decrease. The industry is starting to get worried.
September 27, 2005