Catalonia’s Parliament on Thursday confirmed socialist Salvador Illa as head of Catalonia’s new government, ending more than a decade of rule by the separatist movement. Illa is an ally of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Illa’s election was said to be upstaged by the surprise vanishing of Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont after he spoke at a rally in Barcelona Thursday and then evaded arrest by fleeing to Belgium. Spanish authorities are demanding explanations from police about how Puigdemont was able to return to Catalonia and then go into exile again.