He obtained a PhD in Law at the Catholic University of Louvain and gained a Master of Arts in public administration at Claremont Graduate School, Los Angeles, USA.

Maystadt started his career as an assistant professor at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.

Maystadt has chaired meetings of the G-10 Ministers of Finance, the EU Council of Ministers for Economic and Financial Affairs, the Board of Governors of the EBRD and, for an exceptionally long term of five years, the Interim Committee of the International Monetary Fund.

His other past and present appointments include: He supervised the entrance of Belgium in the Euro zone.

[2] During his last term as Minister of Finance, Maystadt came under heavy criticism after it was revealed that under his responsibility the Belgian State had lost up to 571 million euros in high-risk speculative investments.