Notable issues during the third Rutte cabinet included the childcare allowance affair (Dutch: toeslagenaffaire), the farmers' protests and the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.
Media sources speculated that incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the VVD would seek to form a government with the support of the centre-right CDA and liberal D66.
[2] Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, Edith Schippers, was selected by the VVD to serve as the party's informateur on 16 March and appointed by Speaker of the House Khadija Arib, seeking to determine whether Jesse Klaver of GroenLinks (GL) solely desired a left-wing government, or instead simply viewed the VVD as an unlikely coalition partner.
The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) reported that "labour market reform, investment in law enforcement and additional money for nursing homes" would be areas of agreement between the parties, while "refugee policy, income distribution, climate and medical ethics issues are potential stumbling blocks".
After a three-week summer break, talks resumed on 9 August 2017, and were reported to be close to a conclusion due to representatives of unions and employers' organizations joining the discussions, which typically happens near the end of such negotiations.
[20] After 208 days of negotiations, the VVD, D66, CDA and CU agreed to a coalition under a third informateur, Gerrit Zalm,[21][22][23] and all members of the House of Representatives of the involved parties approved the agreement on 9 October 2017.
On 7 October 2019, the government lost its majority when Wybren van Haga, after being expelled from Rutte's VVD party for allegedly renovating a building he owned without the necessary permits, decided to sit as an Independent.
According to Politico EU, Van Haga wrote he would vote with the government on established coalition policy, but would make his own decisions on future laws.
The cabinet initially planned to allow employers to pay handicapped people below the minimum wage, which would then be supplemented by local government.