Centrist 'Civica Popolare' group born (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, December 29 - A new centrist group, Civica Popolare (Popular Civic, CP), was created Friday to provide a centrist ally for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). The group was formed from the now-defunct Popular Area (AP) and the tiny Centrists for Europe, Solidarity Democracy, Italiapopolare and Italy of Values (IdV) parties. Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin, a former heavyweight in AP, was tapped to be the leader of the new group.
    CP will have a daisy symbol, harking back to the now-defunct left-leaning centrist Daisy Party.
    But the liquidators and guarantors of the Daisy party said CP could not use the symbol, which was still owned by the Daisy.
    The Daisy, led by former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli, teamed up with a post-Communist party to form the PD in 2007.
    CP said its creation was "the first step to form a political force of European and reformist inspiration, to tackle all populist drifts and continue the path of civic, social and material reconstruction of the country".
    The PD badly needs a centrist ally after the demise of AP, with which it governed Italy in recent years.
    The party led by ex-premier Matteo Renzi has sunk in the polls since a split by the leftwing MDP group, now part of former Senate speaker Pietro Grasso's Free and Equal party (LeU).