It's not an EU thing, it's about Northern/Western vs Central/Southern vs Eastern Europe and all the complex factors that help decide how a ruling body view them selves as social engineers and how the populace view the ruling body and their social engineering.
I still think it's weird that Germans smoke as much as they do, since it is absolutely the wrong thing to do given all the available facts. But I get why the Portugese smoke. Or the Polish.
It has something to do with how one views living, and even though Hollywood tells us we're unique little snowflakes that can be and do anything, we're more like the people around us than most are aware of.
If you are thought of as a burden to society, and your neighbour loathe the fact that his tax money goes to your cancer treatment one day, it doesn't help that your neighbour drinks coffee till his heart stops. You're still gonna feel bad smoking, and he's gonna feel normal, even thouh he's an addict, because his addiction is tolerated by most if not all around him. You on the other hand should know better, because you've been told better.
If your neighbour sees you smoking and ask to bum a cig you'll feel as normal as that guy with the caffeine addiction.
For good and bad, social engnineering works when properly executed.
Many EU countries banned smoking because they had too.
Others were the countries who pushed the ban.
The countries who were like "ahh okey" are going to enforce the smoking ban in a different way than the countries who were like LET'S GO NO MORE CIGGIES!
I support the smoking ban. For me it's based on pure facts much like you can't drive when drunk. It's not about you.
Hooooow did this post get so long?