If in fact what the New Zealand Herald is reporting here is true, this is critically important information.  

However, I can not find any evidence of the original Associated Press article or any other article mentioning this, or any information on what interview is being referred to.  Recent press down here since her election have only covered the more negative talking points that I have again rehashed in this diary. It is surprising that something as important as this would not be widely publicised and relegated to a small article buried in the NZ Herald.

Likewise the people inside Greenpeace are not aware of any such statement like this by her. If she could put this sentiment in a letter and send it to Greenpeace much in the same language as the NZ Herald article quotes, it would go light-years to building her reputation inside this important organisation.

This article in the NZ Herald that you cite comes 5 days after her interview with Le Parisien, and although I do not have a full transcript of that interview, the coverage of it in France, Australia and New Zealand that I saw led everyone to believe she was in fact not at all contrite. Maybe a full transcript of the interview would be more enlightening.  IS there any way to get a copy?

So if in fact she is contrite, the message needs to get out.If she has said those things then it needs to be publicised widely and clearly.

Trust me, I would like nothing more than to be able to like Ségolène Royal, and I would more than gladly admit I was wrong and ignorant in my assessment of her if she has in fact said these things and feels this way.

Please if you could find me any transcript or definitive original article where she states these things, I would be more than glad to circulate it widely in the environmental and Greenpeace communities down here.  It would mean a lot to people down here to know she was contrite on this issue.

Thanks for taking the time to reply to the diary and pointing out these important aspects.

I like the silence of a church, before the service begins better than any preaching. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson