Greece has pledged to enforce smoking ban enacted last year. The latest after decades of failed effort and continues to be widely flouted in Europe's most nicotine-addicted nation.

The health ministry said it would hire additional inspectors to bolster a feeble response by municipal officials as a leading anti-tobacco activist on Wednesday rejected arguments by cafes and restaurants that the ban chases away their patrons in the midst of a bitter recession.

"We need to protect public health even if it hurts the pockets of some people," Panagiotis Bechrakis, a prominent pulmonary expert, told Flash Radio.

A day earlier, Health Minister Andreas Loverdos had warned that the crackdown would be enforced "without exception."

"Those who smoked in bars, restaurants and cafes in recent months have smoked enough," he told reporters.

As a response to the reluctance of many mayors to aggressively pursue the ban -- a trend largely blamed on local elections in November -- Loverdos said hundreds of state inspectors would be brought in to do the job.

"The state can be ridiculed no longer," the minister said, noting that in the last two months there had been 343,000 complaints from non-smokers but only 3,000 fines were imposed.

Loverdos had earlier proposed to levy 'smoking licenses' on businesses to fill the state's depleted coffers but Prime Minister George Papandreou, a dedicated non-smoker, quashed the proposal, reports said.

Restaurant and cafe owners say that business is already down by 30-50 percent because of the recession gripping Greece, and the smoking restriction has brought a further slump of up to 80 percent in turnover.

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