diff --git a/launch.sh b/launch.sh
index 69c923d7b..ad7265660 100755
--- a/launch.sh
+++ b/launch.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 if [ ! $PYTHON ]; then
-       PYTHON="python";
+       PYTHON="python3";
 fi
 cd "$(dirname $0)/src"
 exec $PYTHON -OOt gajim.py "$@"