Paul De Raeve was born in Belgium on the 23rd December 1963. Paul De Raeve graduated as registered nurse in 1984. He obtained a Master degree in Nursing Science at the Free University of Brussels in 1989. In 1996 he received a Master degree in Statistics from the Catholic University of Brussels. He is actually Doctoral Student at the Kings College University of London.

Since 1984 Paul De Raeve worked full time as a Registered Nurse in a centre for children with muscular disease. He was a Head Nurse Neonatology in the Al Hada Hospital in Saudi Arabia from 1990 up to 1992. On his return from the Middle East, he was appointed as a staff manager at the Free University hospital of Brussels, part-time delegated to the Belgium Ministry of Health and Environment. He was responsible for developing a national comparable data warehouse for nursing, introducing qualitative indicators within the hospital financing system and providing data for the political decision-making process.

In 2002, Paul De Raeve was appointed as General Secretary of the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN). EFN activities relate to the promotion and protection of nurses and the nursing profession with particular reference to the EU and European Integration. Working towards this mission includes ensuring that nursing is central in the development, implementation and evaluation of the European Health Policy in the field of education, workforce, and quality and safety. Innovation Partnership and Joint Actions with Member States became the main playground for advocacy action. Consequently, policy outcomes are achieved in partnership with other European stakeholders such as the sectoral professions, the European Patient Organisation and the European Public Health Alliance to name a few.