Angela Merkel Goes to Athens Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, visiting Athens this week at the invitation of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, got a chance to see the suffering and anger of Greeks firsthand, brought about by budget policies imposed in exchange for a European Union bailout in the debt crisis. She acknowledged the sacrifices Greeks have already made, yet she insisted that only more austerity can lead to better days. She could not be more wrong. As the European Union's dominant economic policy maker, Ms. Merkel has arguably exercised more power over Greece's fortunes during the past three years than any Greek prime minister. Three years of spending cuts imposed largely at her insistence have reduced Greece's gross domestic product by a staggering 25 percent and wrecked its mainstream political parties. Tens of thousands took to the streets on Tuesday to protest Ms. Merkel's policies. At a joint news conference with Mr. Samaras, Ms. Merkel struck a conciliatory tone, but the policy substance was unchanged, even though the evidence refutes her position. Severe spending and public service cuts have failed to significantly reduce budget deficits or lower Greece's debt burden as a percentage of its fast shrinking G.D.P. Economic contraction has taken a huge bite out of tax revenues and forced much of the labor force into involuntary idleness. A country that is not working cannot pay off its debts and cannot offer much hope for the future. Official unemployment is now 24 percent and 50 percent for young people. Following Germany's lead, the official lenders - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - now insist on a package of more than $17 billion in new tax increases and spending cuts and a new round of politically difficult market reforms before releasing the next $40 billion installment of bailout money. Unless it receives that payment next month, Greece could be forced to default. The budget cuts and market reforms the European institutions are now demanding could prove explosive in Athens. Greek voters are fed up with a scandal-plagued Greek political establishment that votes to impose sacrifices while using political influence to shield itself. They have been deserting the moderate center parties in growing numbers, flocking instead to radical alternatives on the extreme left, like Syriza, now the main opposition party, and the street thugs of Golden Dawn on the extreme right. There are more palatable ways to help Greece achieve its deficit reduction targets, like giving it four years instead of two to meet those targets and negotiating debt write-downs on Greek loans from official institutions, as was earlier done with private lenders. Either tactic might give Mr. Samaras a little more breathing room. But what is really needed is abandoning the idea that austerity alone can ever extricate the euro zone from recession and debt. Ms. Merkel may not want to spend much time reflecting on Greece's economic and political breakdown. But without wiser German leadership, the future of the euro, and the European Union itself, looks increasingly bleak.