The European Parliament plans to completely forbid smoking at work in all European countries, shows a report approved at Strasbourg at the European forum.

The report argues that in order to protect the health of employees and non-smokers, governments need to forbid smoking in all public places, not just institutions.

Adopted with 531 votes for, 63 against and 36 abstains, the report shows that some 650.000 people die annually in the EU due to smoking and another 80.000 fall victims of passive smoking.

The document urges the Commission to prepare a law to ban smoking in all public institutions and public transportation. Moreover, the Commission is advised to assess the costs of smoking and introduce a minimum tax for cigarettes.

By 2025, the report wants to reduce smoking with 50% among youngsters mentioning as measures the installment of automate machines only in the places where minors do not have access or banning the sell of cigarettes on the internet.

According to European Parliamentary statistics, 70% of the European citizens do no smoke and 86% of them agree with banning smoking.