EUR rose against most other major currencies in the European session on Tuesday after the leaders of France and Germany, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, proposed the creation of a EUR500 billion recovery fund "to support a sustainable recovery that restores and strengthens growth in the European Union".

According to a joint statement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, issued on Monday, the fund is meant to be "ambitious, temporary and targeted" financed by money borrowed by the European Commission (EC) on capital markets "on behalf of the European Union" with guarantees from the Member States on favorable terms. The money would be distributed in the coming years as "budgetary expenditure" to the Member States and "the sectors and regions most affected".

The EC's chief Ursula von der Leyen said that the proposal is "constructive" and "acknowledges the scope and the size of the economic challenge that Europe faces". The EC is to present its proposal for the recovery fund next week.