diff --git a/gitlab-ci-template.yml b/gitlab-ci-template.yml
index 14d0f01cf8d17cceb5e26093f7f923be163af007..78337f06d0935cceab2c562da934340ac8064d9b 100644
--- a/gitlab-ci-template.yml
+++ b/gitlab-ci-template.yml
@@ -2,9 +2,6 @@ stages:
   - build
   - tag
 
-variables:
-  CI_REGISTRY_BUILD_ARGS: ""
-
 container-build:
   stage: build
   inherit:
@@ -23,7 +20,7 @@ container-build:
       --label "org.opencontainers.image.revision=$CI_COMMIT_SHA"
       --label "org.opencontainers.image.created=$(date --rfc-3339 ns)"
       --label "org.opencontainers.image.title=$CI_PROJECT_TITLE"
-      $CI_REGISTRY_BUILD_ARGS
+      $(echo $CI_REGISTRY_BUILD_ARGS)
       -t "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA"
       .
     - podman push "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA"