Will report on the case of Ms. Phan Thi My Thanh at the National Assembly session
Head of the National Assembly Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc said that at the 5th Session, the National Assembly Standing Committee will report to the National Assembly the results of the dismissal of Ms. Phan Thi My Thanh from her duties as a National Assembly deputy.
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| Scene of the press conference. (Photo: Trong Duc/VNA) |
Will consider and pass 8 draft laws
Deputy Secretary General of the National Assembly, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office Le Bo Linh said: The 5th session of the 14th National Assembly will open on May 21, 2018 at the National Assembly House, Hanoi.
According to the scheduled program, at this session, the National Assembly will work for 20 days (excluding holidays); the closing session will be held on the afternoon of June 15, 2018.
The 5th session of the 14th National Assembly took place in the context of the successful 7th Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee, contributing significantly to consolidating and promoting the very valuable results and achievements that the entire Party and people have strived to achieve in the past time.
The 5th session of the 14th National Assembly is the mid-year session of 2018, the pivotal year of the 2016-2021 term. Therefore, the agenda of this session is of great significance, contributing to the continued successful implementation of the Resolutions of the Party, the National Assembly, and the Government; building a country that is increasingly innovative, rapidly developing, and strong in all aspects of economic, political, and social life.
According to tradition, at the mid-year session, the National Assembly will spend a lot of time on law-making (accounting for 60% of the total time of the session). Specifically, the National Assembly will spend 12 days to consider and pass 8 draft laws, 1 draft resolution and give opinions on 8 other draft laws. The draft laws considered and passed by the National Assembly include: Law on Denunciation (amended); Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units of Van Don, Bac Van Phong, Phu Quoc; Law on Surveying and Mapping; Law on Competition (amended); Law on Cyber Security; Law on National Defense (amended); Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Physical Training and Sports; Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of laws related to the Law on Planning.
The draft laws discussed and commented by the National Assembly include: Law on Anti-Corruption (amended); Law on People's Public Security (amended); Law on Animal Husbandry; Law on Cultivation; Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Amnesty Law; Law on Coast Guard; Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Education Law; Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Higher Education.
In addition, the National Assembly also spent a lot of time on supreme supervision activities and considered and decided on other important issues. In particular, the National Assembly will consider the Supplementary Assessment Report on the results of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and the State budget in 2017; the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and the State budget in the first months of 2018; approve the State budget settlement in 2016; supreme supervision of the implementation of policies and laws on the management and use of State capital and assets in enterprises and the equitization of State-owned enterprises in the 2011-2016 period; consider and approve the Resolution on the Supervision Program and the establishment of the National Assembly's Thematic Supervision Delegation in 2019; consider and decide on personnel work.
Many innovations at the 5th Session
Speaking on the sidelines of the press conference on the morning of May 19, Secretary General of the National Assembly and Head of the National Assembly Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc said that at this session, the National Assembly continued to make improvements and innovations in question-and-answer activities.
Specifically, the time for each National Assembly delegate to ask a question is 1 minute and after 3 National Assembly delegates ask a question, the person being questioned must answer immediately; the time for each answer is 3 minutes.
This improvement and innovation was carried out on the basis of the pilot results at the question and answer session at the 22nd Session of the National Assembly Standing Committee with the aim of enhancing dialogue and debate in the activities of the National Assembly.
Secretary General of the National Assembly and Head of the National Assembly Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc pointed out that this method helps increase the number of people asking questions while avoiding duplication. Respondents must research deeply and answer briefly. In addition, to help ministers get used to this method, the National Assembly arranged for 3 delegates to ask questions and then the minister to answer, instead of asking and answering immediately like in the question-and-answer session of the National Assembly Standing Committee.
In addition, a new point at this session is that in addition to the contents that have separate Resolutions, the National Assembly plans to issue a general Resolution of the session, covering the issues that have been discussed and decided by the National Assembly.
Regarding the case of Ms. Phan Thi My Thanh, who was recently dismissed from her duties as a National Assembly delegate by the National Assembly Standing Committee since May 14, 2018, Secretary General of the National Assembly and Head of the National Assembly Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc said that on May 4, 2018, the National Assembly Standing Committee received a request from Ms. Phan Thi My Thanh, a 14th National Assembly delegate from Dong Nai province, to resign from her duties as a National Assembly delegate due to unstable health and being disciplined by the Party.
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| Ms. Phan Thi My Thanh |
The Law on the Organization of the National Assembly stipulates that the National Assembly shall decide on the acceptance of a National Assembly deputy's resignation from office. During the period when the National Assembly is not in session, the decision shall be made by the National Assembly Standing Committee and reported to the National Assembly at the nearest session.
"Therefore, at this 5th Session, the National Assembly Standing Committee will report to the National Assembly the results of the dismissal of Ms. Phan Thi My Thanh from her duties as a National Assembly delegate," Secretary General of the National Assembly and Head of the National Assembly Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc stated.
Regarding the draft Law on Anti-Corruption (amended) discussed and commented by the National Assembly at the 5th Session, Deputy Secretary General of the National Assembly, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung assessed that this is one of the draft laws that has received much public attention and will be considered and approved according to the 3-session process.
At the 4th Session, the National Assembly gave its first opinion, then the Government studied and accepted the opinions of the delegates to complete the draft Law to submit to the 5th Session for the National Assembly to give its second opinion. On that basis, the National Assembly Standing Committee will direct the National Assembly's agencies to study, accept, and explain to submit to the National Assembly for approval at the 6th Session.
There are still some contents in the draft Law that have many different opinions, including the issue of handling assets that are not truthfully declared or the declarant cannot reasonably explain the increase in assets. Currently, the Government has proposed two options. Option 1 is to collect 45% personal income tax on assets that are not truthfully declared or have not reasonably explained. Option 2 is to impose an administrative penalty of 45% of the value of the increased assets. After consideration, the Judicial Committee - the agency examining the draft Law, believes that such an approach is not really appropriate.
"The spirit is to strictly handle and recover assets acquired through violations of the law, but still respect and ensure property ownership rights as stipulated in the Constitution," Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung affirmed.
Based on the opinions of National Assembly deputies discussed at the 5th Session, the agencies will seriously listen and absorb them to report to the National Assembly for approval of this Law project at the 6th Session./.