diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1a59524..edb8488 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
     <properties>
         <java-version>1.7</java-version>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+        <skipTests>true</skipTests>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@
                 <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                 <version>2.12.4</version>
                 <configuration>
-                    <skipTests>true</skipTests>
+                  <skipTests>${skipTests}</skipTests>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
         </plugins>