To the surprise of perhaps no one in Greece, eight years of austerity has made Greeks the pessimistic in the European Union about their economic prospects and unemployment, with the jobless rate the highest in the 28-country bloc.

That was the finding of a survey in a Eurobarometer poll that also revealed that despite the hardships brought since Greece switched from the ancient drachma to the euro in 2002, that they don’t want to leave the Eurozone or the currency.

A punishing recession since 2009-10 continues to negatively affect Greek citizens’ attitudes, as the latter remain the most pessimistic of EU residents regarding their economic prospects and employment.

The sour mood in Greece was different from that in the rest of the EU where residents generally were happier with their prospects and the state of the union and thought their future would be better.

But 94 percent of Greeks said the situation for them was bad and 98 percent said the economy was, bad news for Prime Minister and Radical Left SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras who said he’s bringing a recovery without mentioning that, if it happens, it’s largely because he reneged on anti-austerity promises and buried Greeks with an avalanche of tax hikes, new taxes and pension cuts to satisfy the demands of international lenders.

Three bailouts of 326 billion euros ($378.65 billion) will expire on Aug. 20, leaving Greece to the mercy of the markets, with Tsipras pleading for debt relief, saying the country can’t pay back what it owes and that the debt is unsustainable – contradicting recovery claims.

The poll was commissioned by the European Commission and conducted in all EU member-states between March 17-28.