The European Union has overcome its most serious political crisis since Brexit by approving a large stimulus package to mitigate the economic fallout from COVID-19. But the watering down of Brussels' initial proposals in the final deal shows that internal divisions continue to complicate the bloc's policymaking process. On July 21, the 27 governments of the European Union approved a 750 billion euro ($862 billion) recovery fund that will be attached to the bloc's 2021-2027 budget, with 390 billion euro ($448 billion) allotted for grants and 360 billion euro ($414 billion) allotted for loans. The fund will allow the European Commission to borrow from debt markets, and will primarily benefit countries in Southern Europe such as Italy and Spain, which have been the hardest hit by pandemic-induced recessions .