The Contersignature

The countersignature of a president´s decision by prime minister is one of the constitutional questions noccerning relations between top representatives of executive power. It is characteristic for our situation that only some of president´s decisions must be counter-signed, not all of them. And what´s more – the will of the president is determining also in countersigned decisions. It´s the execution of his duty. The prime ministr can prevent the president from a decision, but he cannot compel him to decide. The author of the essay holds the view that the president is legally responsible also for counter-signed decisions, because the responsibility of the government for the countersigned decision is not legal responsibility with possibility of sanction, it is only political responsibility. Legal responsibility cannot be replaced by political responsibility. The essay also refers to the fact that countersignature is unsiutable for president´s orders during a war, what makes command under armed forces difficult.