The wounds from this incident still run deep in New Zealand and Australia, and many of us down here were quite upset when we saw no evidence of a clear statement from Royal addressing the terrorist attack.

I complained bitterly on Kos and EuroTrib about this.  Thankfully several diarists at EuroTrib led by afew and joined by Jerome a Paris and DoDo helped point out that she had in fact made a definitive statement, but except for one small article in the  New Zealand Herald, this news had not been widely publicised outside of France.  Her statement clearly outlines her feelings and position in the matter and actually is one of the first times that a major French leader of her stature has express contrition for the attack and even empathy with Greenpeace.  

Since many articles have appeared in newspapers in the USA, Australia and New Zealand linking her family to the attack without covering her statement, I am trying to make sure that her position is clearly on record.

In fact if she is elected and comes to New Zealand and expresses these sentiments openly and publicly, it would go a long way to once and for all healing these old wounds.

The following is a statement was made on the 4th October on the Evening News on TF1, France's biggest TV channel in an interview with newscaster Patrick Poivre d'Arvor (PPDA).  Here is the original clip.

PPDA: Do you situate among these personal attacks the polemic that arose from your brother Antoine's account about your other brother Gérard who, according to him, placed the bomb that killed in the Rainbow Warrior affair?		PPDA: Est-ce que vous mettez au niveau de ces attaques personnelles la polémique qui est né de la relation de votre frère Antoine concernant votre autre frère Gérard qui selon lui aurait posé la bombe qui aurait tué dans l'affaire du Rainbow Warrior?
Royal: It's true I was astonished by the new outbreak, or the re-appearance of this piece of information, this polemic... I have a brother who, twenty years ago, was a soldier, a frogman, whom I admire a lot, who was in fact involved in a detestable act, but he had received orders to do it... and today... fortunately the nuclear tests have stopped... PPDA (interrupts): But did he speak to you about it at the time? Royal (continues): in spite of... evidently, unfortunately, someone died... (answers question) No, no, of course not, because in the departments involved, secrets are kept. It's a major public service that has rules, and those rules were abided by.		Royal: C'est vrai que j'étais étonnée par la recrudescence ou de la ressortie de cette information, cette polémique... J'ai un frère qui, il y a 20 ans, était un soldat, un nageur de combat, pour lequel j'ai beaucoup d'admiration, qui a été en effet engagé dans une action détestable, mais il avait reçu des ordres pour cela... et aujourd'hui... heureusement que les essais nucléaires sont arrêtés ... PPDA (interrompant Royal): mais il vous en a parlé sur le moment? Royal (poursuit): malgré que manifestement, malheureusement il y a eu mort d'homme... (répond à la question): Non non bien sûr parce que dans les services concernés , on garde le secret. C'est un grand service public avec des règles et ces règles ont été respectées...
PPDA (interrupts): And afterwards, did he tell you about it? Royal (continues): The irony of the story [or of history, translator's note] is that I was in favour of Greenpeace's campaign against the nuclear tests, and, what's more, history has shown they were right. So there are sometimes, when the State misfunctions, disproportionate orders, and when these orders end up involving a person's death, and putting soldiers in danger, it is in fact entirely regrettable, and it mustn't happen again in the future.		PPDA (interrompant Royal): Et après il vous en avait parlé? Royal (poursuit): L'ironie de l'histoire c'est que j'étais favorable à l'action de Greenpeace contre les essais nucléaires et d'ailleurs l'histoire leur a donné raison. Et donc il y a parfois, quand l'Etat fonctionne mal, des ordres disproportionnés, et lorsque ces ordres aboutissent à mort d'homme et à mettre des soldats en danger, c'est tout à fait en effet regrettable, et il ne faudra pas que ça se reproduise.
PPDA: And he never told you anything about his assignment... He never told you what he did? Royal: No, because he stood by the rules of his (military) service.		PPDA: Et il ne vous a jamais rien confié sur sa mission -- il ne vous a jamais dit ce qu'il a fait? Royal: Non parce qu'il respectait les lois de son service.
PPDA: And is that the reason for which you turned down a trip to the South Pacific, precisely to protest against those nuclear tests? Royal: Ah no, not at all. That too belongs to the... PPDA: A legend? [meaning false story, translator's note] Royal: A legend. There are plenty of legends, you know, in electoral campaigns. So you have to, at one and the same time, keep a sense of humour but also set the record straight.		PPDA : Et est-ce la raison pour laquelle vous avez renoncé à un voyage dans la Pacifique Sud, justement pour protester contre ces essais nucléaires? Royal : Ah non, pas du tout. Ca, ça fait partie aussi des... des... PPDA: D'une légende? Royal : D'une légende. Il y a beaucoup de légendes, vous savez, dans les campagnes. Donc il faut à la fois garder le sens de l'humour mais savoir aussi rétablir la vérité.

Here is the original diary by afew.  I would like to thank afew for making the full translation and helping me to see the facts about the situation. As he notes, often in the English-language press we do not get the full story of important issues like this.

For those of you that are not familiar with the European Tribune, it is a great place to learn about and discuss progressive European issues including the aspects of relationship between the USA and Europe.  It is sort of like a Euro-version of Kos.