diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index ff653012c1869c7bdf49615e74f7ffaea7dd88cb..5be3538b918bdfa12e96bb1b221d998e38a61167 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -76,10 +76,10 @@ connect:
   image: postgres:10.15
   needs: ["db-ready"]
   variables:
-    GIT_STRATEGY: none # important to not checkout source when branch is deleted
+    GIT_STRATEGY: none
+    PGPASSWORD: $POSTGRES_PASSWORD
   script:
   # official way to provide password to psql: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/libpq-envars.html
-  - export PGPASSWORD=$POSTGRES_PASSWORD
   - psql -h "${POSTGRES_HOST}" -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -d "$POSTGRES_DB" -c "SELECT 'OK' AS status;"
 
 
@@ -88,10 +88,10 @@ connectp:
   image: postgres:10.15
   needs: []
   variables:
-    GIT_STRATEGY: none # important to not checkout source when branch is deleted
+    GIT_STRATEGY: none
+    PGPASSWORD: $POSTGRES_PASSWORD
   script:
   # official way to provide password to psql: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/libpq-envars.html
-  - export PGPASSWORD=$POSTGRES_PASSWORD
   - psql -h "postgres" -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -d "$POSTGRES_DB" -c "SELECT 'OK' AS status;"