France to ban smoking on all beaches in effort to create ‘tobacco-free generation’

Two small parts of the beaches in Cannes are cigarette-free, but its mayor questioned the government’s smoking ban. Photograph: Sébastien Nogier/EPA

France is to ban smoking on all beaches, as well as in public parks, forests and near schools, after Emmanuel Macron promised to create “the first tobacco-free generation” by 2032.

“From now on, no-smoking areas will be the norm,” said the health minister, Aurélien Rousseau.