[happy_tentacles]

Truth be told, the press release is somewhat misleading. European Parliament is calling on European Commission to take a closer look at own Directive from 2001 (3 years before the countries in question joined the club).

The European Parliament has run this file through a non-legislative procedure, which explains why the press release says "urge the Commission" and places the time limit for action in quotes.

While it is a clear indication of what Members of the European Parliament stand for, there is no immediate legal implications of it - political yes... The European Parliament is a curious legal construct.

There is a plenty of wiggle room to avoid any direct action by the European Commission.

[nyordanov]

IMO, one of the major EU-related things that people are not aware of is that the European Parliament doesn't possess legislative initiative. EU laws are initiated by the European Commission (or) at the request of one or more member states.