diff --git a/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib b/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib
index 6558833496951b0a465afbecd6b2aab19b28bfe3..60549abd9d9205cae340baa6752d11e81e94bcb7 100644
--- a/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib
+++ b/lib/dunecommonam2cmake.lib
@@ -21,12 +21,6 @@ dune_common_options_am2cmake()
 
     default_am2cmake_options $CMAKE_PACKAGES
 
-    # Check for --enable-parallel and activate MPI
-    echo $PARAMS | grep \\-\\-enable-parallel > /dev/null
-    if test "$?" -eq 0 ; then
-	      CMAKE_PARAMS="$CMAKE_PARAMS -DUSE_MPI=ON"
-    fi
-
     # Check for --disable-parallel and deactivate MPI if given
     echo $PARAMS | grep \\-\\-disable-parallel > /dev/null
     if test "$?" -eq 0 ; then
diff --git a/m4/dune_mpi.m4 b/m4/dune_mpi.m4
index c28f93e34355832b87330ab5ca670d66b89a0f96..eabf9035740fabf5974ed5726c02a8f896271b83 100644
--- a/m4/dune_mpi.m4
+++ b/m4/dune_mpi.m4
@@ -99,7 +99,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([DUNE_MPI],[
   # enable/disable parallel features
   AC_ARG_ENABLE(parallel,
     AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-parallel],
-      [Enable the parallel features of Dune. If enabled
+      [Enable the parallel features of Dune, which is enabled by default.
+       Use --disable-parallel to disable parallel features.
        configure will try to determine your MPI automatically. You can
        overwrite this setting by specifying the MPICC variable]))
   AC_SUBST(ENABLE_PARALLEL, "$enable_parallel")
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([DUNE_MPI],[
   with_mpi="no"
 
   ## do nothing if --disable-parallel is used
-  AS_IF([test "x$enable_parallel" = "xyes"],[
+  AS_IF([test "x$enable_parallel" != "xno"],[
     ACX_MPI([
       MPICOMP="$MPICC"