UKRAINE TO MOVE AGAINST SHADOW ECONOMY. Prime Minister Valeriy Pustovoitenko on 3 January said that Kyiv plans to step up its efforts against the shadow economy, ITAR-TASS reported. Economics Minister Viktor Suslov said this part of the economy, largely unregulated and untaxed, currently accounts for some 43 percent of the country's GDP. In other economic developments, the parliament on 30 December approved the 1998 budget, and the government announced plans to establish up to 15 free economic zones modeled on those in China, the Kyiv daily "Den" reported on 2 January. PG

UKRAINIAN, POLISH PRESIDENTS VISIT JOINT BATTALION. Leonid Kuchma and his Polish counterpart, Alexander Kwasniewski, visited the Ukrainian-Polish peacekeeping battalion at its Yavorov training site on 3 January , ITAR-TASS reported. Earlier, the two men opened a new border post at Krakowiec-Korczow to handle the increasing volume of traffic between the two countries and to serve as a link between the Baltic and Black Sea regions. PG

EXTREMIST ROMANIAN LEADER ATTACKS
CONSTANTINESCU. Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the leader of the extremist Greater Romania Party, has said that President Constantinescu is "guilty of high treason," Radio Bucharest reported on 4 January. He argued that Constantinescu is guilty of bringing about the loss of Romanian territories" by signing the basic treaty with Ukraine. He also held the president responsible for the coming to power of the "separatists' organization" representing ethnic Hungarians in Romania and accused him of "undermining the national economy." On 23 December, Prosecutor-General Sorin Moisescu asked the parliament to lift Tudor's immunity for insulting the president. The request followed Tudor's 19 December statement claiming that Constantinescu is a "secret agent" whose policies seek to reward "those who brought him to power." MS