Health minister Ab Klink is sticking firm to earlier pledges to introduce a total ban on smoking in cafés, bars and restaurants by July 2008. The cabinet is due to discuss the ban on Friday.

The hospitality lobby group Horeca Nederland wants the ban to be introduced in phases, arguing that cafés and discos are not yet ready for a total ban.
Holland’s hundreds of coffee shops, where people can buy small amounts of cannabis, would also be covered by the ban. A majority of MPs said in March they did not support a ban in coffee shops because they were places people deliberately went to smoke.
Klink suggested that cafés could set up separate smoking rooms without waitress service where people could smoke if they wished.