The European Union has held informal talks with Russia on its long-sought aim to have Russian oil exports priced in euros

The European Union has held informal talks with Russia on its long-sought aim to have Russian oil exports priced in euros, European Commission President Romano Prodi said on Friday. "Russia is given its own national interest drawn to having its imports and exports denominated in euros," Prodi told a news conference after an EU summit in Brussels. But Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said his government would not force the market’s hand. He said it was up to exporters to decide if they should to stick to the dollar or buck the international energy markets and price oil in euros. President Vladimir Putin, travelling last week in Russia with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, said he would not rule out denominating oil exports in euros. The remark raised hopes a long European campaign to make the euro a common currency in the region’s energy markets might come to fruition and brought a favourable response from European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg. "I think it is a good idea for the euro as an international currency," But Putin’s remarks may have been less a promise than a new bargaining chip in tough talks with the European Union on Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organisation, blocked by Brussels, in part, over what it sees as unfair gas pricing.