BRUSSELS, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The European Union Thursday stepped up pressure on Bolivia to crack down on cocaine production and warned against expanding coca-fields for legitimate use.
As part of his first world tour since winning a national poll last month Bolivia's president-elect, Evo Morales, met with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels. He was asked to elaborate on the new administration's drug enforcement policies for the EU to be able to assess whether it would be possible to work together with La Paz on the issue.
Morales, once leader of Bolivian coca-farmers, had raised eyebrows in the Brussels during his campaign as he announced that he would legalize the production of coca-plant for alternative uses.
Solana warned that any decision to increase acreage limits to satisfy legal consumption could have damaging consequences for Bolivia.
The poor South American country is the world's third-largest producer of the white powder after Columbia and Peru and could have produced up to 118 tons of cocaine in 2004, according to the United Nations' World Drug Report.
