diff --git a/gcc/cobol/Make-lang.in b/gcc/cobol/Make-lang.in
index dd015abf735382c52f9a801e72038e03fba661af..6a57585a729a5bbd1fda4528f749b9c5d7bbae2e 100644
--- a/gcc/cobol/Make-lang.in
+++ b/gcc/cobol/Make-lang.in
@@ -53,12 +53,13 @@ BINCLUDE ?= ./gcc
 # cannot, at this point, be changed.
 #
 
-CPPFLAGS = \
- $(MAX_ERRORS) \
- -Iinclude \
- -I$(BINCLUDE) \
- -Wno-cpp \
- -Wno-missing-field-initializers \
+CPPFLAGS =					\
+ -std=c++17 					\
+ $(MAX_ERRORS)					\
+ -Iinclude					\
+ -I$(BINCLUDE)					\
+ -Wno-cpp					\
+ -Wno-missing-field-initializers		\
  -DEXEC_LIB=\"$(DESTDIR)$(libdir)\"
  $(END)