A bill introduced by the German parliament for the “protection of non-smokers” failed to pass the lower house’s agricultural parliamentary committee

While the opposition Social Democratic party backed the idea of a smoking ban in public places and transport, the majority of the committee members voted for keeping measures against smoking voluntary. The strongest promoter of the bill is Roland Sauer, a member of the Christian Democratic Party (headed by chancelor Helmut Kohl), who declared that he will not give up and will put up a new bill in the future.