Harmonization [bringing international laws, rules, regulations, into accordance with one another--whether in law enforcement or education or food or land use. See my post Globalization is the Standardization of Systems...Rosa]
It turns out that there was already a negotiation in progress. The
U.S. and EU have been been in negotiation on an agreement. Notice that the date on this announcement is May 30. Snowden got press attention on May 20. It should be noted that even though Snowden's press conference occurred before the USTR announcement, even the discussions on agreements like this one occur a long, long time before any public announcement was made.
Always with these events that the press makes a big deal about, if you just wait a week or two, the real purpose will always be revealed if you are watching.
EU Response to NSA Data Collection Program
June 11, 2013
Program ID 313369-1
Category: International Telecasts
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/NSADa
USTR and Trade Policy Staff - Hearings on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement.
http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/blog/2013/may/ustr-tpsc-hearings-ttip
I suspect that Edward Snowden was a "throwaway" character - set up for exactly the purpose of the leak as the required incentive to approve the harmonization agreement with the EU.
READ MORE OF VICKY DAVIS' POSTS AT HER WEBSITE
WWW.CHANNELINGREALITY.COM