diff --git a/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonbundle.py b/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonbundle.py
index ec13be302f..1d89ee2fbf 100644
--- a/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonbundle.py
+++ b/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonbundle.py
@@ -31,10 +31,10 @@
 import sys
 
 from easybuild.easyblocks.generic.bundle import Bundle
-from easybuild.easyblocks.generic.pythonpackage import EBPYTHONPREFIXES, EXTS_FILTER_PYTHON_PACKAGES
+from easybuild.easyblocks.generic.pythonpackage import EXTS_FILTER_PYTHON_PACKAGES
 from easybuild.easyblocks.generic.pythonpackage import PythonPackage, get_pylibdirs, pick_python_cmd
 from easybuild.tools.build_log import EasyBuildError
-from easybuild.tools.config import build_option
+from easybuild.tools.config import build_option, PYTHONPATH, EBPYTHONPREFIXES
 from easybuild.tools.filetools import which
 from easybuild.tools.modules import get_software_root
 import easybuild.tools.environment as env
@@ -145,10 +145,11 @@ def make_module_extra(self, *args, **kwargs):
         # or if we prefer it
         runtime_deps = [dep['name'] for dep in self.cfg.dependencies(runtime_only=True)]
         use_ebpythonprefixes = 'Python' in runtime_deps and \
-            build_option('prefer_ebpythonprefixes') and self.cfg['prefer_ebpythonprefixes']
+            build_option('prefer_python_search_path') == EBPYTHONPREFIXES and not self.cfg['force_pythonpath']
         if self.multi_python or use_ebpythonprefixes:
-            if EBPYTHONPREFIXES not in self.module_generator.added_paths_per_key:
-                txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths(EBPYTHONPREFIXES, '')
+            path = ''  # EBPYTHONPREFIXES are relative to the install dir
+            if path not in self.module_generator.added_paths_per_key[EBPYTHONPREFIXES]:
+                txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths(EBPYTHONPREFIXES, path)
         else:
 
             # the temporary module file that is generated before installing extensions
@@ -163,8 +164,8 @@ def make_module_extra(self, *args, **kwargs):
                 ]
 
             for pylibdir in new_pylibdirs:
-                if pylibdir not in self.module_generator.added_paths_per_key['PYTHONPATH']:
-                    txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths('PYTHONPATH', pylibdir)
+                if pylibdir not in self.module_generator.added_paths_per_key[PYTHONPATH]:
+                    txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths(PYTHONPATH, pylibdir)
 
         return txt
 
diff --git a/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonpackage.py b/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonpackage.py
index c156b97847..2c67b88b7d 100644
--- a/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonpackage.py
+++ b/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/pythonpackage.py
@@ -42,13 +42,13 @@
 
 import easybuild.tools.environment as env
 from easybuild.base import fancylogger
-from easybuild.easyblocks.python import EBPYTHONPREFIXES, EXTS_FILTER_PYTHON_PACKAGES
+from easybuild.easyblocks.python import EXTS_FILTER_PYTHON_PACKAGES
 from easybuild.framework.easyconfig import CUSTOM
 from easybuild.framework.easyconfig.default import DEFAULT_CONFIG
 from easybuild.framework.easyconfig.templates import PYPI_SOURCE
 from easybuild.framework.extensioneasyblock import ExtensionEasyBlock
 from easybuild.tools.build_log import EasyBuildError, print_msg
-from easybuild.tools.config import build_option
+from easybuild.tools.config import build_option, PYTHONPATH, EBPYTHONPREFIXES
 from easybuild.tools.filetools import change_dir, mkdir, remove_dir, symlink, which
 from easybuild.tools.modules import get_software_root
 from easybuild.tools.run import run_shell_cmd, subprocess_popen_text
@@ -1143,15 +1143,16 @@ def make_module_extra(self, *args, **kwargs):
         # or if we prefer it
         runtime_deps = [dep['name'] for dep in self.cfg.dependencies(runtime_only=True)]
         use_ebpythonprefixes = 'Python' in runtime_deps and \
-            build_option('prefer_ebpythonprefixes') and self.cfg['prefer_ebpythonprefixes']
+            build_option('prefer_python_search_path') == EBPYTHONPREFIXES and not self.cfg['force_pythonpath']
         if self.multi_python or use_ebpythonprefixes:
-            txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths(EBPYTHONPREFIXES, '')
+            path = ''  # EBPYTHONPREFIXES are relative to the install dir
+            text += self.module_generator.prepend_paths(EBPYTHONPREFIXES, path)
         elif self.require_python:
             self.set_pylibdirs()
             for path in self.all_pylibdirs:
                 fullpath = os.path.join(self.installdir, path)
                 # only extend $PYTHONPATH with existing, non-empty directories
                 if os.path.exists(fullpath) and os.listdir(fullpath):
-                    txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths('PYTHONPATH', path)
+                    txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths(PYTHONPATH, path)
 
         return super(PythonPackage, self).make_module_extra(txt, *args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/easybuild/easyblocks/p/python.py b/easybuild/easyblocks/p/python.py
index b450d74c79..01355b23e5 100644
--- a/easybuild/easyblocks/p/python.py
+++ b/easybuild/easyblocks/p/python.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 from easybuild.framework.easyconfig import CUSTOM
 from easybuild.framework.easyconfig.templates import PYPI_SOURCE
 from easybuild.tools.build_log import EasyBuildError, print_warning
-from easybuild.tools.config import build_option, ERROR, log_path
+from easybuild.tools.config import build_option, ERROR, log_path, PYTHONPATH, EBPYTHONPREFIXES
 from easybuild.tools.modules import get_software_libdir, get_software_root, get_software_version
 from easybuild.tools.filetools import apply_regex_substitutions, change_dir, mkdir
 from easybuild.tools.filetools import read_file, remove_dir, symlink, write_file
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@
 # magic value for unlimited stack size
 UNLIMITED = 'unlimited'
 
-EBPYTHONPREFIXES = 'EBPYTHONPREFIXES'
-
 # We want the following import order:
 # 1. Packages installed into VirtualEnv
 # 2. Packages installed into $EBPYTHONPREFIXES (e.g. our modules)
@@ -643,6 +641,6 @@ def make_module_extra(self, *args, **kwargs):
         txt = super(EB_Python, self).make_module_extra()
 
         if self.cfg.get('ebpythonprefixes'):
-            txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths('PYTHONPATH', self.pythonpath)
+            txt += self.module_generator.prepend_paths(PYTHONPATH, self.pythonpath)
 
         return txt