Rally the Centrists

Rally the Centrists (French: Rassembler les centristes) is a French political association founded on July 16, 2008 by Jean Arthuis, a centrist Senator of Mayenne. The association unites elected officials and activists of centrist political ideology, most of which used to be members of the Union for French Democracy (UDF). The association's goal is to prepare the creation of a new centrist political party which would unite all the centrist forces, currently divided between parties such as the Democratic Movement, New Centre, Radical Party, Civic Alliance for Democracy in Europe.

Upon the dissolution of the UDF into the MoDem in 2007, a number of UDF officials, including Arthuis, were skeptical about the new party. However, they at first joined the MoDem, participating in the Villepinte Congress, but they later distanced themselves from the independent strategy of the MoDem's President François Bayrou. This came to a climax following the MoDem's poor showing in the municipal and cantonal elections in March 2008.

On May 21, 2008, Arthuis and Thierry Cornillet (MoDem MEP who has since joined the Radical Party) published a petition signed by 17 Centrist Union Senators, one deputy and four MEPs.

...
Wikipedia