Budapest is the only NATO member that has not yet ratified Stockholm's membership in the world's largest military alliance.
The Hungarian parliament can ratify Sweden's membership in NATO when it meets for its new session later this month, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told supporters.
“It is good news that our dispute with Sweden will be resolved soon,” Orban said in his state of the nation address on Saturday in Budapest.
“We are moving in the direction that at the beginning of the spring session of Parliament we will be able to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO.”
Orban stressed that he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had taken steps “to rebuild trust” between the two countries. But he didn't say what those steps were.
Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022, in a historic policy shift brought about by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary is the only NATO country that has not yet ratified Sweden's request, a process that requires the support of all NATO members.
Turkey was the only other NATO holdout, but the Turkish parliament voted to approve Sweden's membership last month.
Earlier this month, lawmakers from Hungary's ruling party, Fidesz, boycotted an emergency session of parliament in which a vote on Sweden's bid to join NATO was on the agenda.
Fidesz cited what it called unfounded Swedish accusations that it has eroded democracy in Hungary as the reason Sweden's NATO candidacy had been delayed.
Hungarian officials have also indicated that Fidesz lawmakers will not support holding a vote on Sweden's NATO candidacy until Kristersson accepts an invitation from Orban to visit Budapest to negotiate the matter.
On Wednesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said his country hoped Hungary would soon ratify its NATO membership, removing the last obstacle to its membership.
Billstrom reiterated that there would be no negotiations on ratification even though Orban invited Kristersson to “negotiate” Sweden's accession.
“There is nothing to negotiate, if there is a visit, there will be no negotiation, my prime minister has made that very clear,” the Swedish Foreign Minister said earlier this week.
The delay in ratifying Sweden's request to NATO has also deteriorated Budapest's relations with the United States and raised concern among its allies.
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on Hungary for its conduct, calling Orban “the least trustworthy member of NATO.”
Orban, who has better ties with Russia than other EU states and most NATO members, has repeatedly said his government supports Sweden joining the alliance, but the legislation has been stuck in the Hungarian parliament since mid-2022.
The Hungarian Parliament is scheduled to reconvene on February 26.
