Abstract In this paper, we establish the theoretical topography of a sample of these actors, their dispositions and their resources to grasp the relational dynamics (including the dynamics of inertia and of change) at work in the translation of the economic, social and political inputs into policy choices. This way of doing seems to us a good means to contribute to the current debate on the unexpected resilience of austerity policies and the need for ‘structural reforms’ at the EU level. How to explain, indeed, that whereas many observers thought after the first Obama election that the end of 2000 would mark a ‘lasting paradigm change’ to neo-Keynesianism the advisability of pursuing a new policy was so rapidly shut down? How to sociologically contribute to explain the strong continuity of the former paradigm inside European institutions and simultaneously the rather marginal adjustments it underwent?