Congress is not completely incapable of action.

CNN: Analysis: Where are the jobs bills?

After all, even had Lisbon been ratified, the Union would have remained a fragmented political actor, incapable of decisive action in times of international crisis or of wielding significant military force.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Europe after Lisbon

The proposed new electoral law risks turning the clock back to the days when Italy was repeatedly paralysed by coalition negotiations and run for most of the time by an all-encompassing Christian Democratic party that was incapable of decisive action.

ECONOMIST: Italian politics