The 6th session has not yet passed two bills and strong decisions of the National Assembly.

The 6th session of the 15th National Assembly was successfully held after more than 22 working days, with the consideration and decision of a series of important issues in law-making, supreme supervision and decision on important issues of the country.

Putting the quality of draft laws first

Regarding legislative work, the National Assembly passed 7 laws, 9 resolutions, gave third opinions on 1 draft law, gave second opinions on 1 draft law, and gave first opinions on 8 other draft laws. Notably, for the first time at a session, the National Assembly decided to postpone the approval of 2 draft laws to have more time for research and completion.

National Assembly delegates press the voting button at the 6th Session.

Regarding the Land Law (amended), after the third discussion in the hall, based on the proposal of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the National Assembly believes that the draft law still has a number of major contents and policies that need further research to design optimal policy options; the comprehensive review and completion needs more time to ensure the constitutionality, legality and consistency of the draft law with the legal system.

Because this is a particularly important bill, greatly impacting socio-economic activities and people's lives, after agreeing with the Government, the National Assembly Standing Committee reported to the National Assembly for permission to adjust the time for passing the Land Law (amended) from the 6th session to the nearest session of the National Assembly to continue studying, absorbing, revising, carefully reviewing and perfecting the draft law, ensuring the best quality before submitting it to the National Assembly for approval.

Similarly, with the draft Law on Credit Institutions (amended), after discussion, the National Assembly agreed with the assessment of the National Assembly Standing Committee that this is a very difficult and complicated law project, sensitive in nature, related to national financial security, the security and safety of the credit institution system, and has a profound impact on socio -economic activities.

This requires careful and careful research, based on science and practice, to avoid the situation where the law, after being promulgated, has many shortcomings that will cause many impacts. Therefore, the National Assembly also decided not to pass this draft law at the 6th session.

Although we know that the above two draft laws need to be promulgated soon to promptly resolve practical difficulties, as National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue has repeatedly emphasized, "careful preparation and clarity are needed before making decisions, urgent but not hasty" and "prioritizing the quality of the draft laws".

Supreme Supervision continues to leave many marks

Right from the beginning of its term, the 15th National Assembly identified innovation in supervisory activities as the focus and key to improving the effectiveness of the National Assembly's operations in general, because it is directly related to and has a positive impact on legislative work and decisions on important issues of the country. The 6th session continues to clearly demonstrate that spirit.

First of all, it is impossible not to mention the question and answer session which was assessed as "innovative", "special", even "unprecedented" in terms of the scope of the questioning, the way it was conducted, and looking back over more than half of the term.

For the first time, the National Assembly did not question groups of issues but questioned the implementation of 10 Resolutions of the 14th National Assembly and from the beginning of the 15th National Assembly's term to the end of the 4th Session on thematic supervision and questioning, including 4 areas: General and macro-economics; Sectoral economics; Culture and society; Justice, Internal Affairs, and State Audit.

That means the National Assembly will question the implementation of promises and commitments, and all "industry commanders" may have to "sit in the hot seat", under the watchful eyes of voters and the People through live radio and television.

After 2.5 days, 457 National Assembly deputies registered to participate in the question-and-answer session; 152 National Assembly deputies exercised their right to question, of which 39 deputies debated. For the first time in the 15th tenure, the Prime Minister, all Deputy Prime Ministers and 21 Ministers and Heads of sectors directly answered questions. Among them, those who had not held the position for long, such as Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh, also took the floor.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong attends the 6th session of the 15th National Assembly.

Another activity that attracted special attention not only from National Assembly deputies but also from a large number of voters, people and public opinion was the National Assembly conducting a vote of confidence for 44 positions elected or approved by the National Assembly (there were 5 new positions elected or approved by the National Assembly in 2023 so they were not voted on this time). The results of the vote of confidence were published in the media immediately after being announced.

This is the 4th vote of confidence of the National Assembly, but the first time it is carried out according to Resolution No. 96/2023/QH15 passed by the National Assembly at the 5th session, on June 23, 2023, with many specific evaluation criteria, from the results of performing assigned tasks and powers to political qualities, ethics, lifestyle, etc.

The National Assembly also conducted supervision and passed a Resolution on thematic supervision of "Implementation of the National Assembly's resolutions on national target programs on new rural construction for the 2021-2025 period, sustainable poverty reduction for the 2021-2025 period, and socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the 2021-2030 period".

It can be said that the above topic once again shows that the content of supervision is not only in the "post-audit" style but also includes issues in the process of management and implementation, together with the Government identifying shortcomings in implementation to have solutions to create better changes.

Specifically, the National Assembly assigned the Government to urgently develop a draft resolution on a number of specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties and obstacles, speed up the implementation of the National Target Programs to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision at the nearest session according to shortened procedures, because the implementation time of the programs is only 2 years. Notably, the pilot mechanism of decentralization to the district level to decide on the list, structure, allocation and use of State budget capital...

Decisions contribute to "relaxing the people"

While the 6th Session was taking place, the National Assembly decided to adjust and add two draft resolutions to the 2023 Law and Ordinance Development Program for consideration according to the procedure at a session. The National Assembly worked for half an extra day and closed on the morning of November 29 instead of the afternoon of November 28 as planned.

Specifically, the Resolution of the National Assembly on applying additional corporate income tax according to regulations against global tax base erosion and the Resolution of the National Assembly on reducing value added tax (resolution in the Resolution of the 6th session, 15th National Assembly).

The National Assembly considered and decided to continue to reduce value added tax (VAT) to promptly support people and businesses, which is "to ease the people's strength". People are the direct beneficiaries of this policy, because reducing VAT will have a positive impact on the prices of services and essential consumer goods. Manufacturing and trading enterprises will also benefit when the policy is issued, because reducing VAT will contribute to reducing production costs, lowering product prices, thereby helping businesses increase their ability to recover and expand operations.

This tax reduction is expected to be applied in the first 6 months of 2024, but the special thing is that the National Assembly Standing Committee can consider and decide to continue reducing VAT after June 30, 2024 if the economic situation and businesses and people are still facing difficulties.

The 6th session of the 15th National Assembly opened on October 23 and closed on November 29, 2023.

Another important content passed by the National Assembly is the Resolution on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies on investment in road construction, with the spirit of removing current difficulties and obstacles.

In essence, the National Assembly allows for deviation from the law within a certain period of time for projects and road works specified in the appendix attached to the draft resolution. Specifically, the projects submitted this time have all been identified in the medium-term public investment, have prepared investment procedures, and have allocated capital but have encountered problems. Therefore, the National Assembly's approval of specific mechanisms and policies will help speed up progress.

An innovative, flexible, accompaniment, creative National Assembly, ready to respond to practical requirements and the country's development - that is the mark of the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

Ngoc Thanh (VOV.VN)

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