PARIS, Nov 2 (AFP) - A proposal aimed at stamping out smoking in public places across France, including bars, restaurants and workplaces, failed to win the support of ruling-party deputies Wednesday.

The lack of backing from president Jacques Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) effectively killed the bill, which was presented by UMP deputy Yves Bur at a seminar on the need for tougher anti-smoking legislation.

The UMP parliamentary leader, Bernard Accoyer, told journalists that while deputies on the dangers of passive smoking, "it's not by brutal bans" that behaviour would change.

A law against smoking in public places was opposed both by tobacconists and by the country's main catering federation.

So far, in the European Union, only Ireland, Italy, Norway and Malta have such a wide-ranging ban in place.

In France, where an estimated one-third of the population lights up, smoking is prohibited on most forms of public transport and in offices, but those who want nicotine with their coffee or dessert in a restaurant have puffed on unperturbed.

Copyright AFP

Subject: French news