By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent, in Athens
Pessimism is overshadowing attempts by Greece to renegotiate the terms of its massive bailout at a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.
Greece's stock exchange fell by more than 3%, amid investor fears that its international creditors, led by Germany, will fail to reach an agreement.
The new Greek government wants to raise the minimum wage, change its debt repayments and loosen economic targets.
The finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, is seeking a bridging deal over the summer to help the country service more than €7bn (£5.2bn) of maturing debt.
But the so-called "troika" of international lenders - the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - has shown little willingness to compromise.
The German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, told a German radio station he was "sceptical" of a deal and that the new administration in Athens must honour its commitments.
He then said: "I feel sorry for the Greeks at the moment. They've elected a government which is currently acting irresponsibly."
But at home Syriza has seen support for its negotiating stance increase since it won last month's general election.
A poll for Kappa Research, published on Sunday, suggests two-thirds of all voters agree with the hard-line position of its new leaders.
On Sunday, about 20,000 people gathered in central Athens to support the newly-elected government's push for a better deal.
However, in the port of Piraeus, on the outskirts of the capital, dockworkers are more sceptical.
Union officials are guarding the gates against any attempt to sell off the port to the highest bidder, one of the strings attached to the €240bn bailout.
Before the election, Alexis Tsipras said he wanted to shelve troika plans for a series of privatisations of government-owned institutions.
But since becoming leader, he has indicated he is prepared to discuss the future of the port.
Unemployed boiler fitter Dimitri Kosmas told Sky News he was prepared to fight to stop the sell-off.
He said: "Let's not forget what happened with Thatcher and the miners' strike. Perhaps we can resort to something similar.
"Maybe we will block the roads, maybe we will clash with police.
"It could also mean that we hold a sit-in and hunger strike and we all die one by one. What's the government going to do then?"
Lord Lamont, the former Conservative Chancellor, told Sky News he believes a large part of Greece's debt should be written off.
He said: "Well I think it would have been better if Greece had never joined the euro, but we're not starting from there.
"I think the next best thing would be if a large part of Greece's debts were just simply written off, rather than extending, cutting the interest rate, which is actually wiping off part of their debt but pretending you haven't done so."
Monday's Eurogroup meeting will be followed by a meeting of all the EU's finance ministers on Tuesday.
If a deal still hasn't been struck, further meetings may be held later this week.
The consequences of failure would take Greece and Europe into unknown territory - especially if the creditors decide to turn off the money tap.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told media in Germany: "We don't need money, we need time to realise our reform plans."
He said he wanted to "save Greece from tragedy and prevent Europe from being divided".
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