Smoking Ban in Spain: Will It Ever Happen?

The proposed smoking ban in Spain has been put back until 2011, raising some doubts over whether it will ever happen at all.
With most countries in Western Europe having brought in smoking ban several years ago, Spain stalled and put in place some half-baked legislation in the hope that that would see off any laws being imposed from on high by the European Union.
Since late 2005, small bars and cafes in Spain have been in the curious position of being allowed to choose whether to permit smoking not. Unsurprisingly (as most bar staff and their patrons smoke), they chose to allow it. Larger establishments were, in theory, asked to fit an expensive ventilated partition. Most ignored it, including Madrid airport.
Realising that the current system was doing nothing to decrease the amount of smoking in public places in Spain, the government threatened to completely ban lighting up in bars and cafes in 2010. But the law has been creeping further and further back - first until the summer and now until 2011.