diff --git a/Control/AthenaConfiguration/python/ComponentAccumulator.py b/Control/AthenaConfiguration/python/ComponentAccumulator.py
index 720f206abae65666dfbfe06760b56a24152fe037..3d8a6b5e3a0c49901a2ed81734651b0a90c64073 100644
--- a/Control/AthenaConfiguration/python/ComponentAccumulator.py
+++ b/Control/AthenaConfiguration/python/ComponentAccumulator.py
@@ -828,7 +828,12 @@ class ComponentAccumulator(object):
 
         #Add services
         for svc in self._services:
-            addCompToJos(svc)
+            if svc.getFullName()=="MessageSvc/MessageSvc":
+                #Message svc exists already! Needs special treatment
+                for k, v in svc.getValuedProperties().items():
+                    bsh.setProperty(msp,k,str(v).encode())
+            else:
+                addCompToJos(svc)
             pass
 
         #Add tree of algorithm sequences: