This article explains how the deterioration in public finances and the developingsovereign crisis led to the creation of a European financial “safety net”. The different financialinstruments (BoP, GLF, EFSM, EFSF, ESM) are the response to specific challenges and what wasfeasible at a given moment. The financial assistance architecture had to adapt quickly to arapid evolution of the crisis. The roles of the IMF, the ECB and conditionality are also discussed.The article concludes that a necessary condition for the EU to overcome the crisis is bettercommunication and a resolute deepening of European solidarity via new tools, structures, andframeworks.