diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 2a34f07ccf22ed519affed4dbd47645d34947def..16e363b2a1a275df6fecda8d33e0df1f31d0dbda 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ stages:
 before_script:
 # the 2 following steps make sure that the required building tool (meson) is installed on the runner
 #and also that all the other external dependencies are here (this will be part of a container later) 
+  - apt-get update  # Make sure the package lists are updated
+  - apt-get install -y curl
   - apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
       meson \
       ccache \