RIYADH - Bahrain's premier has backed Saudi Arabia's plan for the creation of a Gulf union, a report said Sunday, but the nation's opposition is demanding the proposal be put to a referendum.
The "option of a (Gulf Cooperation Council) union has become urgent," Bahraini Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman was quoted as saying by the Saudi Al-Riyadh daily.
Khalifa said the six GCC nations, whose foreign ministers were meeting in Riyadh ahead of a meeting of their countries' leaders in the Saudi capital on Monday, must cooperate to ensure security in the region.
The GCC must "concentrate during this period on achieving and ensuring security and increasing coordination in the fields of security, military and defence by adopting a unified Gulf security structure to protect the council's states," Khalifa told the newspaper.
The Gulf Cooperation Council leaders at their Monday meeting are expected to discuss a Saudi proposal to develop their six-nation council into a union, possibly starting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
The exact nature of this union, first floated by Saudi King Abdullah in December, remains unclear but Bahrain's state minister for information, Samira Rajab, said it could follow the "European Union model."
Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of Bahrain's main Shias opposition formation, Al-Wefaq, has criticised the project which he said must first be subjected to a referendum that should take place in all GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states.
"Bahrain gained its independence (in 1971) following a referendum" overseen by the United Nations, said Salman in a speech on Sunday.
"The people of Bahrain alone have the right to" decide, he said, adding the kingdom's ruling "Al-Khalifa (dynasty) has no right to decide a union or confederation with any country."
A committee made up of three representatives from each of the six member states - the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman - will submit its findings on the proposed union to Monday's meeting.