Originally Posted by
Hawker 800
You have three years to attain an EASA professional licence from the date of last exam pass. It does not matter whether it's an ATPL or a CPL, so multi crew hours do not matter here - at this stage.
It is not very clear at all, the section of the CAA publication you have quoted is specifically for the Issue of a CPL and IR, you can't normally obtain an ATPL without first gaining a CPL and IR. A license conversion at the ATPL level is something different.