Alcohol and tobacco
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Czech Republic: Alcohol lock down after wave of adulterated liquor deaths
17 September 2012215 3PresseuropMladá Fronta DNES, Lidové noviny , SME -
Spain: Smokers - banned almost everywhere
4 January 20111PresseuropEl Periódico de Catalunya -
Social issues: The counterproductive war on smokers
6 December 2010302 9 Revue Politika Brno -
Greece: Last gasp for public smoking
1 September 2010PresseuropTo Vima -
Smoke: Brussels to blank cigarette packs
6 August 20101PresseuropLidové noviny -
Germany: Smoking ban divides country
6 July 2010PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
Tobacco: Anti-smoking lobbyists, please meet Ms Bacall
9 June 2010PresseuropBlog -
Ireland: From armed struggle to cigarette smuggle
4 March 201014 The Irish Times Dublin -
Crime: The war on cigarette smuggling
21 January 20102 Rzeczpospolita Warsaw -
United Kingdom: Crackdown on "alcohol-fuelled disorder"
19 January 2010PresseuropThe Times -
Romania: Smoking can seriously damage your state
5 August 2009PresseuropCotidianul -
Tobacco: Smoking ban is all Greek
1 July 20091 Ta Nea Athens -
Prices: Be glad, Romania
1 July 2009PresseuropAdevărul
The European Commission is preparing a general ban on smoking in public areas. However, a Czech legal expert argues that the desire to legislate to improve public health could ultimately undermine civil liberties. 
Six years after becoming the first European country to impose a smoking ban in restaurants and pubs, Ireland is now at the centre of a continent wide illegal tobacco trade. The Irish Times looks at the role of former IRA members and drug gangs in this lucrative industry. 
One cigarette in every ten sold in the European Union has been illegally imported. To combat the booming business in smuggled tobacco from Eastern Europe and Asia, Brussels has decided to tighten security on the EU's external borders. Poland is in the front line of the war on the cigarette smugglers.
In Greece, which has the highest rate of tobacco consumption in Europe, a law banning smoking in public buildings officially comes into force July 1st. The ban is a subject of controversy — all the more so because the Ministry of Health has yet to publish a decree on the venues concerned and the conditions under which the law will be applied.