Over the last few decades, important state decorations have been received about 20 times. Each time, the decision was made by the incumbent president, and the information was announced in the Polish Monitor. When the president is signed, there is always the signature of the head of government. This is the case, for example, in the case of the decision to deprive the Silver Cross of Merit of the social activist Jolanta Lange, who turned out to be a dangerous agent of communist security, who may have to do with the death of the opposition priest acting in exile. Franciszek Blachnicki. Under the decision announced in the Polish Monitor to collect the order is the signature of President Andrzej Duda, and next to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The Prime Minister's signature is called countersignature. Without it, the decision to deprive the decoration cannot appear in the Monitor, so it has no legal force. There is currently a dispute whether a countersignature is necessary, and if so, whether the president is asking for it with an appropriate request (which the prime minister can reject) or whether it is automatic.