diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6f9c776566d42a036a918deaf2b8c746352bbb15..1cf1103821fac0e31e30bafbb9901591bdf8c919 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -215,7 +215,8 @@ integration_se:
   stage: integration
   only: [merge_requests]
   except:
-    - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
+    variables:
+        - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
   script:
   - hostname
   - ulimit -a
@@ -238,7 +239,8 @@ integration_pe:
   stage: integration
   only: [merge_requests]
   except:
-    - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
+    variables:
+        - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
   script:
   - hostname
   - ulimit -a
@@ -262,7 +264,8 @@ override_inputBag:
   stage: integration
   only: [merge_requests]
   except:
-    - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
+    variables:
+        - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
   script:
   - hostname
   - ulimit -a
@@ -283,7 +286,8 @@ override_fastq:
   stage: integration
   only: [merge_requests]
   except:
-    - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
+    variables:
+        - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
   script:
   - hostname
   - ulimit -a
@@ -304,7 +308,8 @@ override_species:
   stage: integration
   only: [merge_requests]
   except:
-    - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
+    variables:
+        - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
   script:
   - hostname
   - ulimit -a
@@ -326,7 +331,8 @@ consistency:
   stage: consistency
   only: [merge_requests]
   except:
-    - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
+    variables:
+        - $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME =~ /master/
   script:
   - grep -m 1 \"Assigned\":.[0-9] SE_multiqc_data.json | grep -oe '\([0-9.]*\)' > assignedSE.txt
   - grep -m 1 \"Assigned\":.[0-9] PE_multiqc_data.json | grep -oe '\([0-9.]*\)' > assignedPE.txt