diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 8de4ecc96a7f664a330f94cb6b7ea9acaff899e9..54d56ae9580085d059f0e1ca5be81ce6065419ee 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,10 +22,6 @@ dune_enable_all_packages()
 add_subdirectory(dune/perftool)
 add_subdirectory(cmake/modules)
 
-# Make sure that git submodules are correctly initialized
-execute_process(COMMAND git submodule update --init --recursive
-                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
-
 # Add the python subdirectory to systematically install
 # the python dependencies there.
 add_subdirectory(python)