Cash-Strapped Greeks Put Pressure On PM

In the back streets off Koumoundourou Square in central Athens, Demitris Halikas emerges from what looks like a corner store, with a trolley of food in plastic bags.

The 59-year-old didn't pay in cash, but in government tokens - the only currency accepted at the church-run food bank.

He hasn't worked since the crisis began and his family are reliant on the hand-outs.

For him, the idea that Greece's government should agree to more of public spending cuts to avoid defaulting on its debts is reasonable, but impossible in practice.

"They're asking for more because we owe them, and they're right in that sense, but Greece at this moment cannot pay back its debts - it can't tax people again and again and again."

Around the corner from the food bank is a charity-run clinic.

Originally set-up for impoverished migrants, it is now increasingly being used by uninsured Greeks unable to afford basic medication.

The 63-year-old Villy Lambropulu lives just across the street. She used to be an accountant, now she can barely make ends meet.

"I'm unemployed, I don’t expect to get a pension, I can’t make my contribution payments, I'm living off my husband's pension which has already been halved because of the cuts. It's tough."

She, like millions of others in her position, voted for the radical left-wing Syriza party in January's elections because they promised to prevent further cuts.

That message from the electorate is what Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is now taking to the country's international creditors - and to Europe's leaders.

But from his own party, there are concerns over whether he will withstand the pressure.

For Syriza MP Kostas Capavistas, a return to the drachma would create major problems, but he believes that may be preferable to staying in the euro on the creditors' terms.

"The eurozone believe that Greece must comply with dominant approach in the monetary union - raise taxes, cut spending, lower wages and that’s the way to economic health. That's a disaster," he said.

But the Greek prime minister is facing pressure from the opposite side, too.

A warning from the Greek Central Bank that a failure to reach a deal with creditors would lead to a "painful" exit from the euro and perhaps even the EU will have worried the more than 70% of Greeks recently polled who said they want to stay in the single currency.

Talks among eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg to discuss the economic crisis failed without an agreement .

Opposition figures too are accusing the Syriza government of not being clear with the public about what the cost of refusing a deal could be.

Notis Mitarachi was a minister in the last government, involved in negotiating the country’s 2012 bail-out deal.

"Even if you got returned to the drachma, it wouldn't mean the people would have a higher standard of living, we will again see lower real wages, lower real pensions and a lot of pain to get hard currency - this is what the government is not clearly telling the people," he said.