Europe's main center-left parties believe that the European Union should gradually move to a majority vote on some areas of foreign policy, Reuters reported, citing a draft document of the Party of European Socialists (PES) regional group.

EU foreign policy currently requires unanimous agreement by all member states, which critics say makes decision-making difficult and particularly problematic in times of serious crises.

Smaller countries fear that their national interests will not be protected without veto power.

Socialist leaders expected to arrive in Berlin Friday for the two-day PES summit include the heads of government of Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Center-left parties make up 13 of the 27 EU governments so far, including Germany's tripartite coalition led by Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will deliver a keynote speech Saturday.

According to the draft final statement of the PES summit, European socialists believe that EU rules on national state aid should be relaxed in order to provide more financial options to deal with the devastating effects of the current energy crisis.

It is noted that speculation on energy markets should be curbed and price controls imposed on the energy sector.