Let's see things in a ...slightly different way. It's not a secret, the totality of the Mediterranean countries are in a deep crisis.
Who's to blame for that? An easy answer, would be, the politicians, is it the right answer though?
Well, the latter never used to ..pronounce the word "no", when needed. They always seemed to adopt the theory of the political cost.......
Coming to the south, it is true that people preferred to listen to pleasant promisses (proven false 80-90%), than unpleasant true words. Socrates, once upon a time, when asked by the crowds who was to blame (on an argument), WE or the politician, answered in a wise way: The politician, of course but YOU (the crowd) are responsible, cause you forced him to do so.....
A fair answer, at least to my ears.....
Besides all above, I suspect three more reasons:
1. The euro and the parities of the currencies, of the countries in the southern hemisphere, when they rushed into the Euroland.
2. China, and its cheap products, which melted every industrial dreams. For instance, Italy, not long ago (20 years ago), was the 4th exporting country in ..the world, look where it stands now (although taking part in the G8 and the G15s.......).
3. The sea and the sun, which actually pose unsolved hurdles to tackle in most of the cases.
Imagine for instance, a Greek or a Spaniard worker, trying to do their jobs under the above temptations......
