National Assembly Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh discusses the 'subordinate' nature of member organizations of the Vietnam Fatherland Front

On the morning of May 21, after working in the hall, the National Assembly discussed in Groups the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Law on Trade Unions, the Law on Youth and the Law on Grassroots Democracy; the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for social housing development; the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly replacing Resolution No. 35/2021/QH15 dated November 13, 2021 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Hai Phong city.

"Many hands clap, so it makes the sound"

Regarding the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Law on Trade Unions, the Law on Youth and the Law on Grassroots Democracy, delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province said that the amendment and supplement of a number of articles of the Constitution are being carried out in parallel, including contents related to the organization and apparatus of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations.

Specifically, the draft amendment to the Constitution stipulates: "The Vietnam Trade Union, the Vietnam Farmers' Association, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Women's Union and the Veterans' Association are socio-political organizations under the Vietnam Fatherland Front, established on a voluntary basis, representing and protecting the legitimate and legal rights and interests of their members, organized and operating uniformly within the Vietnam Fatherland Front, together with other member organizations of the Democratic Consultative Front, coordinating and acting in unison under the leadership of the Vietnam Fatherland Front".

Therefore, the discussion of this draft law needs to be placed in close relation with the amended contents of the Constitution. Especially related to the content of the review report of the Committee on Culture and Society, in which there is an opinion suggesting that "the drafting agency needs to report and clarify the "subordinate" nature of the member organizations of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the working relationship between the Fatherland Front and its subordinate members but still ensure relative independence, proactive creativity, and operation according to the law and charter of each organization in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and resolutions of the Central Committee".

According to the viewpoint of delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh, the word "directly" here does not mean standing alone, but in a relationship that is both organized and operates in a unified manner within the Front, while maintaining the relative independence, autonomy, and creativity of member organizations.

As someone who has worked for the Front from district to provincial level, and has now held the position of Chairwoman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee for more than 6 years, delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh analyzed the current advantages, disadvantages, and limitations in promoting the role, tasks, and working relationship between the Front and socio-political organizations and mass organizations at the grassroots level.

In particular, local practice shows that in social mobilization activities such as helping the poor, overcoming the consequences of floods, etc., member organizations all carry out activities in parallel, causing people to receive many mobilization channels at the same time. In addition, many individuals are members of many organizations at the same time, leading to the situation of having to pay many types of membership fees.

“This is a milestone for the activities of the Front and socio-political organizations to enter a new phase. When becoming a common home, the voice will be stronger,” said the delegate of Nghe An delegation: “Many hands clapping makes the sound, but how to clap rhythmically will require more general regulations on operating principles.”

Also related to this content, delegate Hoang Thi Thu Hien - Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union of Nghe An province gave comments on some contents in the use of words to ensure logic and coherence related to amending and supplementing some provisions of the Law on the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Law on Trade Unions.

In particular, delegates proposed to review and unify the way of calling member organizations of the Front throughout the legal text to ensure strictness and clarity in application; consider using the word "large" in the definition of the Vietnam Trade Union organization...

Do not plan social housing in places with "extra heads and scarred tails"

Regarding the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of social housing, regarding the determination of selling prices, rental prices, and purchase prices of social housing, the draft stipulates that after acceptance and completion of the project and putting it into use, the investor must conduct an audit and finalize the construction investment costs according to regulations to send to the specialized agency under the provincial People's Committee to "check" the selling prices, rental prices, and purchase prices.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An assessed that this regulation removes difficulties for social housing investors compared to the current law, but proposed to change the word "inspection" to "appraisal", because after putting the project into use, the selling, renting and buying prices of social housing must be appraised to ensure strictness.

The delegate of Nghe An delegation proposed to study and supplement the social housing projects that have been approved for investment policy and selected investors before the resolution takes effect and are being implemented. If the investors voluntarily advance compensation and resettlement support funds according to the plan approved by competent authorities, they will still be reimbursed or deducted by the State according to regulations.

Regarding housing conditions to enjoy social housing support policies, delegate Thai Thi An Chung said that the concept of "far away" or "near the workplace" as stipulated in the regulations is still general and unclear; therefore, it is proposed to clearly stipulate the specific distance, or assign the Government and specialized ministries to provide guidance to unify the understanding.

Regarding the conditions to enjoy the policy, "not yet purchased or rented, purchased social housing", "not yet enjoyed housing support policy", "not yet owned housing", delegates assessed that it was unclear whether this was an "and" or "or" condition, and needed to be clarified to avoid conflicting understandings in practice.

Regarding the determination of distance, the draft currently stipulates that the shortest distance from the place of residence owned by the person to the workplace must be 30 km or more. However, according to the delegate, the workplace in many cases is not fixed and can change continuously. Therefore, she proposed to amend the regulation in the direction of calculating the shortest distance from the residence owned by the person to the location of the social housing project that the person wants to register to be 30 km or more, instead of calculating the workplace.

Also related to the draft resolution, Major General Tran Duc Thuan - a member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense, Security and Foreign Affairs, expressed his agreement with its promulgation. He said that this is a correct policy, consistent with the Party's orientation, with a legal and practical basis, but its implementation has encountered many difficulties in the past.

The outstanding issue is the planning and arrangement of land funds for social housing. He proposed to clearly define the responsibility of localities in arranging land funds that are convenient for workers, avoiding the situation of social housing being planned in "excessive" locations; localities should be required to review specific needs to establish reasonable planning and investment plans to avoid waste.

He noted that housing standards, if too low, will be outdated, if too high, will push up prices. Therefore, there needs to be a model design; at the same time, he emphasized the harmony of interests and the need for a transparent mechanism to avoid policy exploitation. Selling prices should be flexible according to regions, with appropriate profits for investors and diversified according to income. In addition, it is necessary to build preferential credit packages and flexible payment mechanisms for people, especially low-income workers.