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Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek told reporters on Monday that his party, the Civic Democrats, will push to have a general election on the earliest possible date if his government loses a no-confidence vote on Tuesday. Mr Topolánek rejected the idea of a caretaker government. The prime minister also turned down a proposal by the opposition that his government would remain in place until the end of the Czech EU presidency in June; Mirek Topolánek said he expected the president to name him, as the leader of the strongest party in the last election, to form a new cabinet.

The opposition Social Democrats have failed in four previous attempts to bring down the government in a vote of no-confidence.

Industrial production in the Czech Republic dropped by more than 23 percent year-on-year in January, decreasing for the fourth month in a row, according to government figures released on Monday. A decrease in production of transport machinery and equipment, along with a fall in construction, were the major factors behind the plunge. Meanwhile, civil engineering was one of the few industries that registered an increase. The average monthly wages in industry rose by two percent to just over 23,000 crowns, or more than 1,170 US dollars. Employers fear however that the unemployment rate could reach 10 percent by the end of the year.

The Czech daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Monday that Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra had two legal firms assess whether a controversial art commission from earlier this year constituted fraud against the Czech government. They found no crime had been committed. In January, the Czech EU presidency unveiled the controversial work Entropa by Czech artist David Černý, who said it was the work of 27 different European artists. It soon came to light, however, that the piece, which pokes fun at the EU and European stereotypes, was largely the work of Mr Černý alone. The artist returned a two million crown commission and both he and Deputy Prime Minister Vondra apologised. Mr Vondra told Hospodářské noviny that that the government had only wanted to be sure regarding the possibility of fraud, saying there were no plans to pursue the matter in court.

The minister for human rights and minorities, Michael Kocáb, was tasked Monday with designing a strategy to combat social exclusion on behalf of the government. According to estimates by the Interior Ministry, around 80,000 people live in some 300 problem sites.