diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e64fcadad10fd51651fb3808c0f70d40f065dc04..18c4d318cae302ea21dd4269578f067c01973816 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ test:frontend:
   coverage: '/(\d+.\d+) \% covered/'
   before_script:
     # java.desktop module does not export Sun Graphics implementation for mockito
-    - export MAVEN_OPTS="$MAVEN_OPTS -DsurefireArgLine=--add-opens=java.desktop/sun.java2d=ALL-UNNAMED"
+    - export MAVEN_ARGS=-DsurefireArgLine=--add-opens=java.desktop/sun.java2d=ALL-UNNAMED
     - apt-get update
     - DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y libxrender1 libxtst6 fontconfig libfreetype6
     - mvn dependency:purge-local-repository -DmanualInclude="lcsb.mapviewer"
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ test:frontend:
     - export DISPLAY=:99
 
     - mvn -DskipTests=true clean install -pl commons -am
-    - mvn test -pl commons
+    - mvn test -pl commons $MAVEN_ARGS
     - awk -F"," '{ instructions += $4 + $5; covered += $5 } END { print covered, "/", instructions, "instructions covered"; print 100*covered/instructions,"% covered" }' commons/target/site/jacoco/jacoco.csv
 
 .test_backend_annotation_template: