Relative strength of wire mesh vs rebar for reinforcing a concrete slab

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I have a friend who is German and he says that wire mesh is much stronger than steel bars (rebar) and is mandated in Germany for reinforcing concrete slabs.

The question is, is that true, and why?

Here's a typical concrete reinforcement here (in Indonesia)

There are tied rebar beams, with rebar for floor reinforcement. Instead of the floor bars, we could instead install mesh between the beams. But what is the difference? Obviously we could buy 10.0 mm wire mesh @ 15 cm spacing, or we could install 10.0 mm bars at the same spacing (and let's say for the sake of argument that the same steel is used to make the mesh as we receive as bars). This would result in the same weight of steel per m3, However whereas the wire mesh is welded, the rebars are only tied with wire, which I guess has trivial strength.

[note, let us assume, for the sake of argument that the mesh and bars are properly placed]

Is there, in any case, an overwhelming advantage from the welds in the mesh, or can such advantage as there is be eliminated at relatively low cost, say by increasing the numbers of bars used by say 10%.