I’ve added setUpModule() and tearDownModule() to reports_test.py and moved module-level initialization code into the former.
Also setUpModule() captures state of gramps.gen.config.config before execution of reports = ReportControl() and the remaining initialization, and tearDownModule() restores it.
Now unit tests which should fail - fail as expected.
Later I’ll try to fix the failing tests and, if successful, will submit PR with all changes.