The paper has two basic objectives. The first, is to present the evolution of the process of sustainable development in the European Union (EU). We provide evidence that over time, the concept of sustainable development as a broad policy objective has been steadily declining in importance giving way to the less multidimensional strategy of green growth. We argue that the green growth strategy is actually based on the strategic selection of the traditional economic growth model, taking into account certain environmental aspects. We show that environmental protection expenditure is growing much slower than per capita income. Looking at the investment on environmental protection, we document a clear falling trend. Our findings imply that both the social and the environmental dimension of sustainability have been losing ground and the traditional goal of economic growth is being restored. The second, is to provide some assessment of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the process of sustainable development in the EU. Considering the relevant EU forecasts on the immediate effects of the pandemic, we conclude that it will severely hinder the process of sustainability in the EU in the short term. The long-term effects of the pandemic cannot even be outlined, especially at the level of the individual member states. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the Recovery and Resilience Facility as key instrument of recovery and of national recovery and resilience plans, will play a decisive role in minimising or even neutralising the negative longer-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

这篇论文有两个基本目标。第一个是介绍欧盟（EU）可持续发展进程的演变。我们提供的证据表明，随着时间的推移，作为一项广泛政策目标的可持续发展概念的重要性一直在稳步下降，让位于不太多维的绿色增长战略。我们认为，绿色增长战略实际上是基于对传统经济增长模式的战略选择，同时考虑了某些环境因素。我们表明环境保护支出的增长远低于人均收入。从环保投资来看，我们记录了一个明显的下降趋势。我们的研究结果表明，可持续性的社会和环境维度都在下降，经济增长的传统目标正在恢复。第二，对冠状病毒大流行对欧盟可持续发展进程的影响提供一些评估。考虑到欧盟对大流行的直接影响的相关预测，我们得出结论，它将在短期内严重阻碍欧盟的可持续发展进程。大流行的长期影响甚至无法概述，尤其是在个别成员国层面。尽管如此，恢复和复原力基金作为恢复和国家恢复和复原计划的关键工具的有效性，