Macedonia is getting a new smoking law - the first serious overhaul of the regulation since 1995, amended as many as nine times since then. Health Minister Azir Aliu laid out the number that should end any debate: tobacco is behind around 3,600 deaths a year, or 13 percent of all deaths, and costs the economy over 600 million euros a year.

The law introduces a full ban on smoking in enclosed public and work spaces, extends the rules to e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, and brings stricter protections for children - a ban on smoking in a vehicle with minors and within 20 meters of schools and health facilities. Online promotion and influencer marketing of tobacco products are completely banned.

For hospitality businesses, which fear a law like this most, there's a transition period. Summer terraces will have to be open on at least two sides to allow smoking, and the sector gets one year to adapt its premises. A representative of the hospitality chamber voiced support for protecting public health, acknowledging that a phased rollout softens the economic impact on businesses.

And here's the eternal Balkan dilemma. Every country in the region has a strict smoking law on paper - and smoke-filled cafes in practice. The question isn't whether the law looks good (it does), but whether it'll be enforced. With 14 inspection bodies in charge of control and a one-year transition period, the answer will only become clear once the grace period is over. Until then, the law is an intention, not a reality.