They were among several countries who attended a special seminar organised in Lausanne by European Athletics, who outlined the procedures for bidding for the 2016 event along with the 2015 European Indoor Championships.

If Britain does bid then Birmingham is expected to put itself forward.

The city recently announced plans for an £12.25 ($19.41 million) redevelopment of Alexander Stadium designed to enable the arena to stage major international events.

Martin Mullaney, the Councillor in charge of Leisure at Birmingham City Council, also told the City Cabinet last month that they had already started investigating the possibility of launching a bid.

Britain is the most successful country in the history of the European Championships behind the now disbaned Soviet Union and East Germany, having won a total of 90 gold medals, 13 ahead of its nearest rival Germany.

But since the event was first held in Turin in 1934 it has never been staged in Britain.

UK Athletics were represented at the seminar by Roger Simons, a member of its Council.

The bidding seminar, chaired by European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz, is part of European Athletics’ new strategy of long-term planning for event allocation that was established in 2009.

This year's event was held in Barcelona.

From 2012, the European Championships are due to switch from being held every four years to every other year.

The 2012 Championships will be held in Helsinki with the 2014 event in Zurich.

The next step for the potential event hosts is to confirm their candidatures by November 12, 2010, and then submit bids by February 28, 2011.

The European Athletics Council decision on who will host the two events is scheduled for November 2011.

London is already bidding for the 2015 World Championships, although their bid has been hit by a row over lack of Government funding.

The International Association of Athletics Federations is due to announce its decision at its Council meeting in Monte Carlo next month.

London's only rivals are Beijing, who hosted the 2008 Olympics.

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