Senator Marco Follini made it official on Wednesday that he was quiting the UDC, the party he helped create from the ashes of the Christian Democrat party and once led.
In announcing his decision, Follini gave advice to his old party, telling its members to "bark less and bite more". While UDC secretary Follini served briefly as deputy premier in the center-right government of Silvio Berlusconi. However, he stood out as one of Berlusconi's chief
in-house critics and quit the executive after the center-right pushed through a law returning Italy to a voting system of proportional representation.
Once out of government he also stepped down as party secretary but continued to criticise what he saw was the party's subservience to Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and ally the Northern League. Follini now intends to start up a movement called 'Middle Italy' which he says will offer a home to those centrists and moderates who feel left out of the Left-Right political reality in Italy.
In the Senate he has already left the UDC caucus and joined the unaffiliated mixed group.
