30/03/2017 (Agence Europe) – The Council of the EU may grant the Commission a mandate to negotiate a free-trade agreement with New Zealand by May or June, a diplomatic source told EUROPE on Thursday 30 March. However, the Council will remain very much on it guard, given New Zealand's “mega-offensive” interest in the agricultural sector, as 70% of its exports to Europe are agricultural products, the source explained. There is also the question of the “point” of a trade deal in which the United Kingdom has the greatest involvement and the matter of the “fields to be defended”. On 7 March, the EU and New Zealand reached the end of their preparatory discussions ahead of negotiations for a bilateral free-trade agreement (see EUROPE 11740). (EH)