This chapter opens the book by tracing the emergence of the European Union (EU)’s financial assistance regime as a defining feature of European integration in an age of crises. It situates the analysis in the turbulent decade marked by the Eurozone crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine—moments that forced the EU to move from a regulatory polity towards a distributive one. The chapter outlines how successive emergencies triggered the creation of financial assistance instruments that expanded the EU’s capacity to borrow and lend. It introduces the book’s research questions, main arguments as well as the comparative approach adopted to examine the evolution and institutionalisation of such instruments. By framing financial assistance as both a response to disruption and a driver for European integration, the chapter establishes the foundation for the book’s broader contribution.