While there is definitely some truth to the effects of the value Euro being "too low", I don't think that is the "main reason" for the number of German middle class manufacturers which the article is talking about. This is rather a historical artifact and did not develop in the last 17 years since the introduction of the Euro. I would also like to mention that currency value is not simply a banking vs. industry result in my opinion, there are many up- and downsides to "currency surpression" and Germany does not decide about the value of the Euro but the members of the Eurozone do.