Images of the border fence between Turkey and Bulgaria during a visit by Bulgaria's parliamentary chairman Rosen Zhelyazkov and the President of the National Council of Austria Wolfgang Sobotka. Bulgarian border police prevented a total of 158,000 illegal crossing attempts up until the end of September this year, up from 115,000 attempts for the same period of 2022, according to border police data. Bulgaria and neighbouring Romania hope to join the Schengen free-travel area by the end of 2023. IMAGES