diff --git a/tools/oslo_debug_helper b/tools/oslo_debug_helper
index 0de7efd..e865eda 100755
--- a/tools/oslo_debug_helper
+++ b/tools/oslo_debug_helper
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 # relative to the project directory. If no value is passed, it is assumed
 # to be packagename/tests.
 
-PYTHON=${PYTHON:-python}
+PYTHON=${PYTHON:-python3}
 
 TMP_DIR=`mktemp -d debug-$$-XXX` || exit 1
 trap "rm -rf $TMP_DIR" EXIT
diff --git a/tools/oslo_run_cross_tests b/tools/oslo_run_cross_tests
index a657ab9..7c79414 100755
--- a/tools/oslo_run_cross_tests
+++ b/tools/oslo_run_cross_tests
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 # Fail the build if any command fails
 set -e
 
-PYTHON=${PYTHON:-python}
+PYTHON=${PYTHON:-python3}
 
 function usage {
     cat - <<EOF