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Order! Greek lawmakers fume at smoking colleagues

Friday - 2/8/2013, 4:20pm  ET

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek lawmakers are fuming over colleagues who openly flout the country's anti-smoking laws in the very building where the statutes were passed.

A cross-party group of 88 representatives wrote to the Parliament speaker Thursday urging action against what they call a "pathetic and infuriating" state of affairs.

Greece has one of the European Union's highest smoking rates. It introduced a strict law in 2010 to outlaw smoking in enclosed public areas. Violators face EUR50-EUR500 ($68-$680) fines.

It was the third anti-smoking law passed in recent years, but has met with no noticeable success: People still light up freely in bars, cafes, restaurants -- and Parliament.

The lawmakers wrote that, apart from assembly halls, at times there is "not a single square meter" in Parliament where the law isn't broken.
