The new strategy will include, controversially, a European Championships every two years, rather than the current four, starting in 2012.

That means that there will be a European Championships in the run-up to London 2012 when most athletes will be preparing for the Olympics.

Announcing the new slogan which the organisation has adapted, namely, that athletics is “Your Sport for Life”, Wirz outlined an ambitious vision for the future of the sport in Europe.

He said: “We have put a lot of work into this new strategy and our vision is very clear and simple.

"That is, we want the highest number of Europeans to form a loyal relationship with athletics for life.

"The challenges are well documented.

"And they are faced in varying degrees by all our audiences - none more so than by our Member Federations across Europe.

"The time has come for European Athletics to project our enormous experience and expertise gained in all areas of the sport.

"There is so much more to European Athletics than just running a series of European meetings.

"That is why we have decided to re-clarify who we are; what we do; how we do it; and who we do it for."

Besides the European Championships taking place more often, the European Team Championships will see some rule innovations and it is replacing European Cup.

Europe's one-day meetings are also be given an overhaul.

Wirz said: "One of our biggest innovations here will be the restructuring of the one day meetings.

"This will be the biggest change in our sport for the last 40 years.

"It involves transforming the whole European calendar into an integrated and more coherent format."

Another new item is the inaugural Youth Conference in Oslo in December 2008, European Athletics will be launching its youth policy and developing strategies to encouragage youngsters to take up the sport.

Wirz also said that European Athletics wants to create a "Doping-free zone".

He said: "In future, European Athletics wants to lead by example with a zero tolerance approach to doping.

"European Athletics is taking a leadership role in order to achieve a clear vision.

"We recognise that with this leadership comes great responsibility."