diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 38a90d511c651a79e7d7aa3abdaedfaceede440d..0fc98c61e2796f9e08d53b8472a19f7cccc5e13a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ if (MPI_C_LIBRARIES)
 else ()
   list (APPEND PAMPA_DEPENDENCIES ${MPI_LIBRARIES} m)
 endif ()
-set(MPI_COMPILER mpicc)
+set(MPI_COMPILER ${MPI_C_COMPILER})
 
 if (PAMPA_BUILD_ALONE)
 include_directories(${PAMPA_SOURCE_DIR}/include)