Euroscepticism, opposition among Europeans against European integration and the European Union.
Beggs was known as one of the more hard-line members of the UUP, being vociferous in his Euroscepticism and his suspicions about the Belfast Agreement - initially involving himself in Union First (a group within the Ulster Unionist Party opposed to the Agreement), although in his final two years in Parliament he appeared publicly supportive of the Agreement and of leader David Trimble.
The initial attempt failed however as a group of Alþingi representatives rejected the new party's platform – which was inspired by that of Tony Blair's New Labour – and broke away before the merger to found the Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð), based on more traditional democratic socialist values as well as green politics and euroscepticism.