GREECE sent its eurozone partners an augmented list of proposed reforms today, but EU officials promptly knocked it back.

Officials said several more steps were required before any release of aid funds to a country that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says has a noose around its neck.

Struggling to scrape together cash and avoid a looming default, Athens made a €310 million (£224m) partial loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while Mr Tsipras pleaded to be allowed to issue more short-term debt to plug a funding gap.

Following an unsuccessful talk with the European Central Bank (ECB), which offered Athens no help to address a cash squeeze, the prime minister also asked for a meeting with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

Athens had pinned its hopes on the ECB giving more leeway to Greek banks to buy state bonds.

But the ECB maintained a tough line with Athens on Thursday, saying that it was only prepared to give more room on financing once the Greek government reached a debt deal.

Until agreement is reached, Athens has no access to the cash remaining in its €240-billion (£173bn) EU-IMF bailout fund.

Mr Tsipras is finding little in the way of concrete help from his supposed allies in the eurozone.

“Greece must pay back these loans in full. That’s what we expect and nothing has changed in that regard,” said European Stability Mechanism head Klaus Regling.

Asked about Mr Tsipras’s calls for debt restructuring, Mr Regling said brusquely: “The new Greek government’s communication has, at times, been irritating in recent days.”

Mr Regling added that a debt cut was neither necessary economically nor feasible politically.

He said he was “extremely concerned” about the new Greek government’s attempts to steer a different political course to the previous administration.

He fell back on the old tune that Greece still needed to revamp public administration, health, its labour market and its pension system in return for European cash.