[rwissmann]

15-20 years ago Germany was the sick man of Europe. Labour market reforms in line with an industrialization boom in Asia restored the competitiveness of her industrial economy.

The real problem with this argument is that they are too short-sighted. Germany cannot artificially reduce its competitiveness to appease other EU countries, because competition happens on a global stage and so the EU would simply lose out further to North America and Asia.

Your are correct that Germany should spend more on infrastructure.