Technocratic Keynesianism: a paradigm shift without legislative change

Despite anticipated curtailment of their powers, the past decade saw technocratic actors take on an increasingly powerful role in economic governance. Focusing EU, I analyse these epochal shifts as a move away from market liberal paradigm that informed 1992 European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The EMU combines highly restrictive attitude to public money creation with permissive laissez-faire private credit money. In face dual crises COVID-19 climate emergency, EU technocrats have abandoned key tenets EMU. Central Bank provides targeted large-scale support for pandemic-related fiscal expenditures. Banking regulators supervisors actively guide allocation eye its environmental impact. However, constitutional structures lag ideational new technocracy is haunted by issues legality legitimacy. To pursue policies within old structures, policymakers engage strategic ambiguity: are justified terms both policy priorities, well reference instruments goals earlier paradigm.