As if the smoking ban wasn't enough for Europeans to digest, the French are now seriously looking into putting breathalysers into bars and bistros to test customers on leaving the premises.

Mandatory testing
The plan is supported by the French Ecology minister Jean-Louis Borloo and will be presented to the President Nicholas Sarkozy. Borloo wants breathalysing-on-exit to be obligatory in all bars and restaurants open until 2am.

"I can tell you that tomorrow, at the council of ministers, Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot and I will present a decree to make electronic breathalyser tests obligatory in drinking establishments open until 2:00 am, so that everyone can check their level, their condition upon leaving."

Holiday weekend excessive drinking
This action comes after particularly horrific set of accidents took place on the roads of France during the Bank Holiday weekend early in May. It has been reported that there were at least 17 fatalities during that weekend alone, some of which were a caused by excessive drinking.

Conflicting opinion
By the summer it is hoped that Borloo's law will be passed to enforce the éthylotests obligatoires. Some professionals are all for the idea, such as André Daguin, president of the Union for Skills and Industry (UMIH), "It's a good measure for us in the business...Consumers won't be able to say that they've left a restaurant, having drunk, without being warned of the consequences."

However, Bernard Quartier, president of the National Federation of Cafés, Brasseries and Discothèques (FNCBD) sees it as a real shame in addition to the smoking ban and a tightening on hygeine factors: "We're undergoing the smoking ban, the fight against alcoholism, noise, hygeine. It's scandalous. M. Borloo would do well to know who sells the most alcohol in France, as the cafes hotels and restaurants only sell 12% of it. He should be making moves towards the supermarkets and hypermarkets instead."