Greece's government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis took aim at former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras this week, using offi...

Greece's government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis took aim at former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras this week, using official migration figures to contrast conditions under SYRIZA with those today. Tsipras had just finished a speech in Mytilene when Marinakis posted a TikTok laying out the numbers. The figures are stark. Back in 2015, nearly 900,000 refugees and irregular migrants arrived in Greece, with Lesbos facilities built for 2,700 people holding 19,000. The North Aegean islands combined were housing 30,000 migrants at one point. Today, Marinakis says, there are 277 migrants on Lesbos. Total arrivals across Greece fell from roughly 890,000 in 2015 to 48,000 in 2025, a drop of 94% according to Marinakis. Pending asylum applications have also fallen sharply, from 140,000 down to 28,000. Processing times tell a similar story. Before 2019, waiting for an asylum decision could take up to three years. Marinakis says applications are now processed within one to two months. On illegal border crossings, Marinakis was blunt about current policy. Anyone who enters Greece illegally faces two options, he said: deportation or detention. The remarks came via TikTok following Tsipras's visit to Lesbos, with Marinakis framing the comparison as necessary to show what the current government inherited versus what exists today. Tsipras led Greece from 2015 to 2019, the period when migration to the islands was at its most intense. #Greece #Migration #Lesbos