Protests
Greece: Thousands rally in support of staying in Eurozone Reuters

As negotiations between Greece and the EU edge toward their zero-hour, opposition sweeping the country proves that, no matter what happens, any deal will be a tough sell at home and could lead to action in the streets.

If a deal is reached in Brussels on whether Greece will get €7.2bn (£5.12bn, $8bn) of bailout aid and avert a default on June 30, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will need to bring it to Athens parliament for approval. Then the Greek people may either show their acceptance or dissent with their feet.

Already some MPs from Tsipras's left-wing Syriza party are saying they are unhappy swallowing concessions he has proposed in his most recent deal to untangle the argument with creditors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Lenders reviewed the points of the Greek proposal on Wednesday 24 June and issued a counter-offer which Greece has indicates it rejects. One of the sticking points for creditors is pensions. They call for early retirement to be eliminated in Greece until 2022 and to cap retirement at 67 or at 62 years with 40 years of work.

Yesterday pensioners filled the streets of Athens. Busloads of them appeared to oppose between 30-60% cuts to their pensions in recent years and services such as health care. They feel cheated because they made contributions to pay for these services throughout their working years.

On news of the deal's rejection, opposition party To Potami said that it backs the idea of austerity, cutting public spending and not raising taxes. "The actual dilemma is euro or poverty, euro or permanent austerity," said party leader Stavros Theodorakis, indicating that a deal should be accepted.

Syriza was voted in by Greeks in a snap election on 25 January this year on its anti-austerity platform — a stance that concerned Greece's creditors and Eurozone supporters.

In response to the EU and IMF's austerity measures on the country in September 2012, Greek police clashed with protestors in the streets, firing teargas as some of the 50,000 protestors who marched on the Greek parliament threw petrol bombs and stones.

Greek unemployment sat at 25.6% in March, with youth unemployment at 49.70% during the same time. How the unemployed take to the streets on news of a deal may not be decided by either the Greek government or its creditors.

IMF