French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu both welcomed Algeria’s decision on Wednesday to pardon writer Boualem Sansal, describing it as"the result of France's constant efforts and a method based on respect, calm and rigor". Their remarks underlined the government’s shift away from the hardline, confrontational stance of former interior minister Bruno Retailleau, known for his public threats towards Algiers.

Algeria granted a German request to pardon and transfer Sansal, the 76-year-old Franco-Algerian novelist jailed for a year, so he could receive medical attention, according to a statement from the Algerian presidency.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune "responded favourably" to a request from his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier "to grant a pardon to Boualem Sansal", the statement said, adding that the appeal"caught his attention due to its humanitarian nature and motives".

Sansal, who holds both French and Algerian citizenship, was sentenced in March to five years in prison for"undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity". The ruling stemmed from comments he made to a far-right French outlet last year, in which he claimed that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial period between 1830 and 1962. Algiers viewed those remarks – echoing long-standing Moroccan claims – as a direct challenge to its sovereignty.

He was arrested in November 2024 at Algiers airport upon his arrival from France and, having chosen not to appeal his conviction, became eligible for a presidential pardon.

"I take note of this gesture of humanity by President Tebboune and thank him for it. I remain, of course, available to discuss with him all issues of mutual interest for our two countries," Macron said on the sidelines of a trip to Toulouse.

"We worked transparently with our German friends as a trusted intermediary, and I sincerely thank President Steinmeier for making himself available," he added, suggesting Paris and Berlin had coordinated their efforts.

Cédric Perrin, a conservative senator and head of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said a third country’s involvement had been"necessary to avoid humiliating the Algerian authorities", adding that"this solution had been on the table for some time to allow everyone to emerge with dignity", according to Public-Sénat.

'The standoff doesn’t work'

The relationship between France and Algeria had soured in recent months, but the appointment of Lecornu as prime minister and Laurent Nunez’s replacement of Retailleau at the Interior Ministry in October marked a turning point.

Retailleau, who led the the right-wing Les Républicains party (LR) and served as interior minister under the two previous prime ministers, had repeatedly called for Sansal’s release through public denunciations of Algiers. Last year, he described himself as"a supporter of a firm policy" toward Algeria, later asserting in July that"the diplomacy of goodwill had failed" and that France must “assume a balance of power that Algeria itself has chosen".

Nunez took the opposite approach, favouring quiet diplomacy that allowed discreet talks between Paris and Algiers to resume, paving the way for progress on Sansal’s case.

"The standoff doesn’t work," an Élysée official said Wednesday night, referring to France’s relations with “sovereign states” like Algeria."As in life, it is doubtful that the best results come from quarrelling with those whose help you seek," the adviser told reporters when asked whether Retailleau’s departure had helped unlock the situation.

Seeking to repair the relationship, Macron had already sent Tebboune a letter for Algeria’s Revolution Day in early November, calling for"a frank, respectful, equal bilateral dialogue serving the interests of our people" as the only way to restore key cooperation in security, consular and migration matters.

'A break in tone'

Macron himself had once fuelled tensions by accusing Algeria in 2021 of building its post-independence identity on a"memory rent" upheld by a "politico-military system". But this time, the French president chose a conciliatory tone, even invoking the memory of the Algerian War.

According to Le Figaro, he asked France’s ambassador to Algeria, Stéphane Romatet, who was recalled to France last April, to attend a ceremony honouring the victims of the 1961 Paris massacre, when French police under Maurice Papon violently repressed a pro-independence protest, killing several dozen Algerians.

Nunez openly defended the shift away from Retailleau’s combative style, calling it “a break in tone” in an interview with France Inter in October."Those who make people believe that confrontation and brutality are the only way forward are mistaken. It doesn’t work in any area," he later told Le Parisien, just days after the National Assembly adopted a far-right resolution seeking to"denounce" the 1968 Franco-Algerian accords.

In the same interview, Nunez lamented that"the channel with Algiers is currently completely severed", with cooperation on migration and security at a standstill. Yet he revealed he had been invited to visit Algeria by his counterpart, signaling thawing relations.

Sansal’s release, confirmed late Wednesday as he arrived in Germany, further cemented that shift.

Macron, who thanked Tebboune for his"gesture of humanity", said he remained"ready to discuss with him all issues of common interest". As for Retailleau, the man whose hard line once defined France’s stance toward Algiers, he simply wrote on X that he felt"immense relief".