France won the men's title ahead of Germany in the narrowest European Cup finish since the start of the event in 1965 and Russia swept its 11th consecutive women's title when the two-day competition ended on Sunday.
France and Germany finished level on 116 points after 20 events. They were also tied at the number of wins at four each, but France retained the title because of more second-place finishes, five to three. Poland was third with 110 points.
Russia collected 127 points in the women's competition and was assured of the title even before the final event, the 4x400m relay, where the Russian team was disqualified for false starts.
France was second with 107 and Germany third with 94.5.
Germany was also involved in the previous closest finish, when it lost the men's 2000 title to Britain by half a point.
The team competition, involving eight nations on both the men's and women's sides, has been run under different formats since 1965. It became an annual event in 1991.
The Germans were leading from early on in the competition at Munich's Olympic stadium and looked headed for a close but comfortable victory after Tim Lobinger had won the pole vault and Filmon Ghirmai the 3,000m steeplechase.
But France bounced back when Bouabdellah Tahri won the men's 3,000m and Germany's Carsten Schlangen faded to last place.
That allowed France to open a four-point lead and by finishing sixth in the concluding 4x400m relay, it had the title. The Germans finished second in the relay by 0.07 seconds to Poland and would have clinched the title with a win.
"It was a tactical race," Tahri said. "I was in great shape today."
"I am glad I won the eight points for my team. My coach told me to take the lead and that's what I did. I just did my job," he said.
The second French winner on the final day of the event was Ladji Doucoure, who took the 110m hurdles in 13.35 seconds.
"I had a bad start. After two steps I has massive problems and I thought about giving up," Doucoure said. "In the end it was tough."
France also had two winners on Sunday on the women's side, Muriel Hurtis-Houairi in the 200m in 22.83 seconds and Eunice Barber in the long jump at 6.73m.
But Russian victories by Yelena Slesarenko in the high jump at 2.02m, by Anna Omarova in the shot put at 19.69m and Tatyana Lysenko in the hammer at 75.86m made sure that Russia ran away with the title again.
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