BID TO DISMISS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT. Igor Koliuchko, the secretary of the parliamentary Legal Committee, told journalists on 4 September that the committee has moved to dismiss President Leonid Kuchma, whom it accuses of "abuse of power" following his vetos of the law on local administrations. The parliament overruled both of the president's vetos, but the law was never signed because Kuchma claimed the deputies had violated the voting procedure and had not examined all his proposals. Koliuchko said the committee's motion to dismiss Kuchma will be submitted to the parliament soon. Kuchma on 4 September dismissed the move as "bluff and comedy." He said the decision has "no meaning for those who understand the Ukrainian Constitution," UNIAN reported.

EU-UKRAINE SUMMIT STARTS IN KYIV. A spokeswoman for Hans van den Broek, the EU commissioner responsible for relations with Eastern Europe, told journalists on 4 September that the EU wants to help Ukraine integrate as rapidly as possible into the world economy. Speaking on the eve of a EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv, she said Brussels fully supports Ukraine's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). EU President and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Executive Commission President Jacques Santer, and Van den Broek are to meet with President Kuchma to discuss Kyiv's entry into the WTO, safety measures at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, and the implementation of a partnership and cooperation agreement between the EU and Ukraine. That agreement is expected to be fully ratified later this year by the EU's parliament.

UKRAINE ANNOUNCES PRIVATIZATION PLANS . The State Property Fund has said shares in 58 state-owned companies will be sold this month on the nation's "over-the-counter" stock market, Bloomberg Business News reported on 4 September. A fund said the initial package of shares has an estimated value of some $2.1 million. It also pledged to sell shares in 139 companies, valued at $27 million, in October. Plans are currently being drawn up to sell some of the country's largest companies, including firms in the energy, petrochemical, and metallurgy sectors.

...AND LUKASHENKA. Brazauskas also met with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to discuss bilateral relations, the signing of the readmission agreement, and progress toward delimiting the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. They confirmed the "existence of normal and good-neighborly relations between the two countries," ITAR-TASS reported on 4 September. In addition to Brazauskas, Lukashenka, and Chernomyrdin, the presidents of Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine are attending the two-day conference. Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari is taking part as a guest.