Athens:
Greece, which has been praised for its budget cutbacks and austerity programme, is going after another vice: smoking.
Starting on Wednesday, the Socialist government will impose a tough smoking ban that outlaws lighting up in enclosed public areas and prohibits tobacco advertising.
Offenders will be fined up to ten-thousand euros (12,750 US dollars) and face swift prosecution.
With the help of Harvard University's School of Public Health, the campaign will include an advertising blitz that hands out an anti-smoking board games to children.
And all this will be happening in a country where 42 percent of people over 15 smoke, well above the European average of 29 percent.
In Greece, where chain smokers are still fairly common, lighting up was once regarded by many as a symbol of the national disregard for rules. But the government thinks that it's now time to break the habit.
Deep in a debt crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou is struggling to repair a near-bankrupt economy after decades of overspending.
Like the austerity plan, the smoking ban will help teach Greeks to consider the consequences of their actions, he said.
The country's Health Ministry says the measures are needed after efforts over eight years to impose partial smoking bans were generally ignored.
Starting on Wednesday, offices and businesses will ban smoking and close popular smoking rooms.
Those caught violating the new law will be fined between 50 and 500 euro (65 and 650 US dollars) and have their names recorded in an offender's database. Businesses will be fined between 500 and 10,000 euros (650 and 12,750 US dollars).
But Greek bar and restaurant owners, already hit by a recession and a shaky tourism season, say a dip in business could cost them their livelihood.
"I believe is that it will harm places that are strongly connected with drinking and entertainment in general, a lot, said bar owner Christos Giannakouris on Tuesday.
"We all have our lives and we want to know how to lead it, and then, suddenly, there comes someone telling you to drop a habit you have been having for years," said Nikos Louvros, who owns a trendy central Athens bar, with laptops and chessboards.
Louvros was so angered by a previous attempt to impose a smoking ban last year that he formed his own pro-smoking political party that received some 1,500 votes in the 2009 national election.
He plans to run again in municipal polls in November.