If they .. had done what any experienced pilot would do and hold attitude and power and get appropriate UAS check list we wouldn't be discussing this now.
Probably we are all agreed on that point.
any competent pilot could recover from a stall
One might hope that such would be the case.
However, there is, at least, one caveat (and I note I have no background on the Airbus flock).
While some of our number have had the opportunity to experiment in sim exercises with an indication that recovery might have been possible, we note that the beloved sim is a computer not an aeroplane. The observed sim characteristics are only as good as the aeroplane model programmed and this in an area of the envelope where the model would be expected to consist of extrapolations rather than hard FT data.
There remains the question of just what real world (stability) characteristics the particular aircraft might have had in the circumstances, hand flown at high FL without the computers' assistance. The CG was fairly aft at around 29% (as I recall) and recovery from a deeply stalled situation may have presented a crew with some unusual or unexpected problems. While many may censure the crew and the particular operator's training systems for getting to the stalled situation in the first place, it may be appropriate to cut the guys in the hot seat some slack so far as "oh dear (or words to that effect), what do we do now ?" might be concerned.
Different matter for an experienced experimental TP but we are talking about two line F/Os who (so far as I am able to divine) had no broader experience. Indeed, there are some very experienced TPs who frequent this place and, with any luck, we may get some pertinent comments from those good folk.
Ultimately it will be interesting to see if AB provides useful guidance on the matter ?