diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
index ba0c0d8b841c9513f73fb8be75327c5291f49bbb..19e35aa8204964b370918b66b64d56592fd8fff0 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
@@ -505,6 +505,12 @@ variables:
         # create cfg in case it doesn't exist - will be updated by bumpversion
         touch .bumpversion.cfg
         bumpversion ${TRACE+--verbose} --current-version "$py_cur_version" --commit --message "$py_commit_message" --tag --tag-name "{new_version}" "$py_release_part"
+      elif [[ -f ".bumpversion.cfg" ]]
+      then
+        # current version shall be set in .bumpversion.cfg
+        py_release_part="$PYTHON_RELEASE_NEXT"
+        log_info "[bumpversion] increase \\e[1;94m${py_release_part}\\e[0m"
+        bumpversion ${TRACE+--verbose} --commit --message "$py_commit_message" --tag --tag-name "{new_version}" "$py_release_part"
       elif [[ -f "setup.py" ]]
       then
         # retrieve current version from setup.py
@@ -512,12 +518,6 @@ variables:
         py_release_part="$PYTHON_RELEASE_NEXT"
         log_info "[Setuptools] bumpversion ($py_release_part) from \\e[1;94m${py_cur_version}\\e[0m"
         bumpversion ${TRACE+--verbose} --current-version "$py_cur_version" --commit --message "$py_commit_message" --tag --tag-name "{new_version}" "$py_release_part" setup.py
-      elif [[ -f ".bumpversion.cfg" ]]
-      then
-        # current version shall be set in .bumpversion.cfg
-        py_release_part="$PYTHON_RELEASE_NEXT"
-        log_info "[bumpversion] increase \\e[1;94m${py_release_part}\\e[0m"
-        bumpversion ${TRACE+--verbose} --commit --message "$py_commit_message" --tag --tag-name "{new_version}" "$py_release_part"
       else
         log_error "--- setup.py or .bumpversion.cfg file required to retrieve current version: cannot perform release"
         exit 1