diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e46f2b625a..7ed9cc4a21 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard config-host.mak),)
 all:
 include config-host.mak
 
-PYTHON_UTF8 = LC_ALL= LANG=C LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 $(PYTHON)
-
 git-submodule-update:
 
 .PHONY: git-submodule-update
@@ -576,7 +574,7 @@ qga/qapi-generated/qga-qapi-commands.h qga/qapi-generated/qga-qapi-commands.c \
 qga/qapi-generated/qga-qapi-doc.texi: \
 qga/qapi-generated/qapi-gen-timestamp ;
 qga/qapi-generated/qapi-gen-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/qga/qapi-schema.json $(qapi-py)
-	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
+	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
 		-o qga/qapi-generated -p "qga-" $<, \
 		"GEN","$(@:%-timestamp=%)")
 	@>$@
@@ -676,7 +674,7 @@ qapi/qapi-introspect.h qapi/qapi-introspect.c \
 qapi/qapi-doc.texi: \
 qapi-gen-timestamp ;
 qapi-gen-timestamp: $(qapi-modules) $(qapi-py)
-	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
+	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
 		-o "qapi" -b $<, \
 		"GEN","$(@:%-timestamp=%)")
 	@>$@
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.include b/tests/Makefile.include
index 8b45f01d25..e8bb2d8f66 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/Makefile.include
@@ -678,13 +678,13 @@ tests/test-qapi-events.c tests/test-qapi-events.h \
 tests/test-qapi-introspect.c tests/test-qapi-introspect.h: \
 tests/test-qapi-gen-timestamp ;
 tests/test-qapi-gen-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/qapi-schema-test.json $(qapi-py)
-	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
+	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
 		-o tests -p "test-" $<, \
 		"GEN","$(@:%-timestamp=%)")
 	@>$@
 
 tests/qapi-schema/doc-good.test.texi: $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/doc-good.json $(qapi-py)
-	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
+	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
 		-o tests/qapi-schema -p "doc-good-" $<, \
 		"GEN","$@")
 	@mv tests/qapi-schema/doc-good-qapi-doc.texi $@
@@ -978,7 +978,7 @@ check-tests/qemu-iotests-quick.sh: tests/qemu-iotests-quick.sh qemu-img$(EXESUF)
 .PHONY: $(patsubst %, check-%, $(check-qapi-schema-y))
 $(patsubst %, check-%, $(check-qapi-schema-y)): check-%.json: $(SRC_PATH)/%.json
 	$(call quiet-command, PYTHONPATH=$(SRC_PATH)/scripts \
-		$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/test-qapi.py \
+		$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/test-qapi.py \
 		$^ >$*.test.out 2>$*.test.err; \
 		echo $$? >$*.test.exit, \
 		"TEST","$*.out")