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Smokers on Spain's bar terraces can carry on lighting up for the time being, as the government's plan to ban smoking outdoors has stalled following the call for a snap general election on November 29.

 

The Health Ministry had been working on a shake-up of the country's tobacco rules that would have pushed the ban well beyond enclosed public places, taking in terraces and even bus shelters. Vapes and nicotine pouches were also due to come under the same kind of controls as ordinary cigarettes, which the ministry saw as a response to the way people now consume nicotine and part of its wider public health strategy.

 

Hospitality businesses would have felt the biggest change, especially in areas where sitting outside with a drink is a way of life. Smokers would no longer have been able to light up in the outdoor areas covered by the new rules, and both customers and owners would have noticed the difference.

 

Parliament was dissolved early while the legislation was still working its way through, which means it can't be completed, and Spanish government president Pedro Sánchez's decision to call the election has frozen several other projects in the same position.

 

Housing is another area caught up in the upheaval. It was the defeat of two royal decree-laws on rentals in Congress that led Mr Sánchez to dissolve Parliament, and the government has since approved both texts again through the Standing Committee. They've already been published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and have started to take effect, but they still have to be ratified within 30 days. Among other things, tenants on standard leases that expire before December 31, 2028 can ask for an extension of up to two years, while rent rises that can't be agreed between both sides are capped at 2%. New state housing aid is a different story, as it will have to wait until a new government is formed and approves the necessary budget.

 

What happens to the smoking reforms is now in the hands of whoever takes charge after the election, who'll have to decide whether to dust them off and what form they should take.

 

Image: Magnific