diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-maven.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-maven.yml
index c468b4da2832a2c62f5f8bbaef7b295a3b2b6720..1f52146ab7407fd25b6abb62c8e4f57be528ead8 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-maven.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-maven.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ spec:
       default: .m2
     settings-file:
       description: The Maven `settings.xml` file path
-      default: ${MAVEN_CFG_DIR}/settings.xml
+      default: $MAVEN_CFG_DIR/settings.xml
     opts:
       description: '[Global Maven options](http://maven.apache.org/configure.html#maven_opts-environment-variable)'
       default: >-