diff --git a/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/ecpg.header b/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/ecpg.header
index df58f1535c..b8508a9123 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/ecpg.header
+++ b/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/ecpg.header
@@ -594,7 +594,6 @@ check_declared_list(const char *name)
 			continue;
 		if (strcmp(name, ptr -> name) == 0)
 		{
-			if (connection)
 			if (connection && strcmp(ptr->connection, connection) != 0)
 				mmerror(PARSE_ERROR, ET_WARNING, "connection %s is overwritten with %s by DECLARE statement %s", connection, ptr->connection, name);
 			connection = mm_strdup(ptr -> connection);