BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s parliament will vote Monday on whether to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership application. This is likely to mark an end to more than 18 months of delays that have thwarted the alliance’s expansion in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Hungarian government has submitted the protocols for approving Sweden’s accession to NATO in 2022, but the matter has since been stalled in parliament due to opposition from ruling party lawmakers. Admission of new countries requires the unanimous support of all NATO members, and Hungary is the only one of the alliance’s 31 members that has not given its consent.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a right-wing nationalist who has forged close ties with Russia, said Swedish politicians’ criticism of Hungarian democracy had worsened relations between the two countries and led to reluctance among lawmakers in his Fidesz party.

However, Monday’s vote is widely expected to approve Sweden’s NATO membership, clearing the final hurdle after the country first applied to join the alliance in May 2022.

Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister, met with Orbán in the Hungarian capital on Friday, where a crucial reconciliation appeared to have taken place. Following their meeting, they announced the conclusion of a defense industry agreement that will include the purchase of four Swedish-made JAS 39 Gripen jets and the extension of a service contract for Hungary’s existing Gripen fleet.

Orbán said the additional fighter jets would “significantly increase our military capabilities and further strengthen our role abroad” and improve Hungary’s ability to take part in joint NATO operations.

“Being a member of NATO together with another country means that we are ready to die for each other,” Orbán said. “A defense and military capabilities agreement will help restore trust between the two countries.”

Monday’s vote on Sweden joining NATO is just one item on the hectic agenda of lawmakers in the Hungarian parliament. A vote is also planned to accept the resignation of President Katalin Novák, who resigned earlier this month amid a scandal surrounding her decision to pardon a man convicted of covering up a series of child sex abuse cases.

After accepting Novák’s resignation, lawmakers are expected to confirm Tamás Sulyok, president of Hungary’s Constitutional Court, as the country’s new president.

Some opposition parties have said they will not take part in a vote to confirm a new president. However, Sulyok was nominated by Orbán’s Fidesz party, which has a two-thirds majority in parliament and is expected to easily approve his presidency.

For Sweden’s NATO application to take effect, a presidential signature is required, but it was unclear when that final approval would come.

Hungary’s allies in NATO and the European Union have put increasing pressure in recent months to abandon its opposition to Sweden’s membership. Last weekend, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators visited Hungary and announced they would submit a joint resolution to Congress condemning Hungary’s alleged democratic backsliding and calling on Orbán’s government to immediately lift its block on Sweden’s transatlantic integration.