This paper investigates the relationship between comparative advantages and exports specialization. Panel unit root tests, panel cointegration test, and panel causality tests are used to examine this relationship. We also use panel estimation methods that mitigate heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and endogeneity. The empirical analysis is based on annual data of the Euro Area for the period 1995-2016. We detect strong export competitiveness in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Spain. The recent financial crisis has affected the export competitiveness of countries, improving it significantly in Portugal, Finland, Austria, and the Netherlands, while worsening it mainly in Greece, Belgium, Slovakia, Spain, and France. The empirical results indicate that comparative advantages positively affect export specialization. Heterogeneous panel causality analysis results support that there is unidirectional panel causality running from comparative advantages to export specialization in ; and the reserved causal relation in Greece, Italy, and Portugal. Finally, we detect bidirectional panel causality between comparative advantages and export specialization in Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, and Slovakia.