The "HPA" course must be done in a Flight Training Organisation (FTO), by a TRI (SPA).
Nonsense. The HPA course is solely theoretical knowledge and need not even be conducted by a pilot, let alone a TRI(SPA).
In essence, one prerequisite for the second lot would be to sit all 14 ATPL exams and then throw half of them away (the other half being used towards the JAA IR).
No, one
alternative would be to do as you suggest but that would be both unnecessary and stupid. The sensible alternative is to complete the HPA theoretical knowledge course, which should only take a bit of distance learning and a couple of days in the classroom. Whilst there may, as achimha suggests, currently be mandatory minimum training times in some countries, there are no such minima included in Part-FCL.
Since there are no significant changes from the JAR-FCL 1 requirements for the addition of a SP SET class rating, I don't see what all the fuss is about.