Hungary’s ruling party proposed Tuesday holding a Feb. 26 vote on the ratification of Sweden’s bid to join NATO and said it would support Sweden’s accession.

Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said Tuesday the development is “very welcome.”

Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Accepting new members to the alliance must be a unanimous decision by the existing members, and Hungary is the only country that has yet to approve Sweden’s bid.

Finland submitted its application at the same time as Sweden and became a NATO member in April 2023.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters