Budapest [Hungary], February 18 : In a recent move, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, announced that the Hungarian parliament can ratify Sweden's NATO membership when it convenes for its new session later this month, according to Al Jazeera.
"It's good news that our dispute with Sweden will soon be settled," Orban said in his state-of-the-nation address on Saturday in Budapest.
"We are going in the direction that at the start of parliament's spring session we can ratify Sweden's accession to NATO," the Hungarian PM added.
Orban emphasised that actions had been taken "to rebuild trust" between the two nations by him and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. But he omitted to mention what those actions were.
In May 2022, Sweden made a dramatic policy change in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine by applying to join NATO, according to Al Jazeera.
Hungary is the only NATO nation that has not yet approved Sweden's application. All other members of NATO have supported this process, according to Al Jazeera.
The only other country that had not approved the membership was Turkey, but last month the Turkish parliament approved Sweden's accession.
Earlier this month, members of the ruling Fidesz party in Hungary abstained from an emergency session of parliament where a vote on Sweden's NATO candidature was scheduled.
The Hungarian Parliament is scheduled to reconvene on February 26.
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