Doesn't seem like that's the case for Airbus, ESA or CERN for instance. I agree that there's a lot of bureaucracy in Europe but still stuff gets done from time to time!
For Airbus I would agree but ESA isn't on the same level as NASA and CERN is competitive but only in a field where there is no real reason to be competitive (no money is made).
If the only reason to do anything is money, sure. I think most people here in HN know how valuable scientific research is, and the kind of advancements that come from it. The World Wide Web came from CERN.
The World Wide Web coming from CERN is not getting stuff done. It is getting lost in side-projects and doing the non-obvious, non-cheapest, non-fastest thing because it is interesting and there is a tiny chance it might be worth it in the long run. Very much not plain getting-stuff-done.
NASA's budget is almost three times the size ($22.6bn vs €6.68bn, which is approximately $8bn). ESA gets quite a lot done per Euro invested. It's just really hard to convince the member nations to pay for a good PR team.
