GETTY Kristalina Georgieva said she would 'freeze' job offers for men if targets were not met

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The Commission's budget and human resources chief said the freeze would come if institutions did not hire more women. Kristalina Georgieva set the target of making sure 40 per cent of the top jobs in the EU went to women.

However after a meeting with other commissioners in the Brussels bloc, she admitted more needed to be done to reach that goal. She told Politico.EU: "My determination is that if it is necessary, I will freeze appointments. "Some departments have to reach their targets, and if they don’t, sanctions are coming."

The 62-year-old admitted the EU institution was falling short of their ambitious targets. Only 30 percent of Commission senior managers and 33 percent of middle managers are female. She did lace her disappointment with a hint of optimism, saying some Commission departments had met the 40 percent targets in some of the lesser departments, including communications and research and innovation.

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Yet the Commission is far behind its targets in the powerful departments, such as competition, single market and anti-fraud office. Just 10 of the 41 director-generals - the highest rank in the commission apart from the commissioners themselves - are women.

GETTY The EU bureaucrat admitted the institution was falling short of its targets