Dubai: Common security concerns and worries over Iran’s increasing “interference” paved the way for the Saudi proposal to transform the 31-year-old Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) into a union, analysts say.

The plan, they say, faces enormous challenges. If the sovereignty of states is a matter of concern, the lack of progress over the common currency is likely to fuel scepticism.

When Riyadh raised the idea during the December summit, it caught everybody by surprise. A debate raged in the following weeks.

Saudi Arabia was swift to defend its brainchild when Kuwaiti Speaker Ahmad Al Sa’adoun last month expressed doubts that the union is “unlikely” because of the differences in political systems of the members.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal last week said the proposal would not affect the sovereignty of any member country, stressing that it will have positive impact on all the members.

“Prince Saud has clarified some very important issues related to the [proposed] union,” said Abdul Aziz Al Saqr, chairman of the Gulf Research Centre. These issues, or “fears”, Al Saqr told Gulf News, include the worries that it could negatively affect the sovereignty of member states and the differences in the economies.

New strong entity

Emirati analysts said the union is a plan for the future that should be as creative, flexible and unique as the GCC. Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, professor of political science at the UAE University, said the Arab Gulf Union is a message from Gulf governments to their people that the union is the Gulf plan for the future and a message to Iran that the new entity is a strong, well-defended fortress.

But Dr Mohammad Bin Howaidin, professor of political science at the UAE University, felt it needs more time. “The transition cannot be a reactive move to events or threats,” he said.

A leading legal expert in Oman also believed that the formation of the union would be a challenge. “I believe that the transformation be challenging as was apparent from the GCC’s unsuccessful attempt in creating a unified currency,” said Riyadh Al Balushi.

Abdul Lateef Al Mahmoud, a Bahraini Islamic scholar, stressed the urgent need to form a union. “We want to go back to our union or unity before colonialist forces forced us apart into statelets, kingdoms and sultanates,” he said in Manama.

With inputs from Associate Editors Jumana Al Tamimi and Samir Salama, Bahrain Bureau Chief Habib Toumi and Oman Bureau Chief Sunil K. Vaidya