diff --git a/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js b/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js
index 984ec513db51fdd40bac0ed8f7a13cf43f5d7b62..11b2fa5a1a312767cd3af07735981216b1c21759 100644
--- a/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/gitlab/index.js
@@ -770,7 +770,6 @@ async function mergePr(iid) {
     });
     return true;
   } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
-    logger.debug({ err }, 'merge PR error');
     if (err.statusCode === 401) {
       logger.info('No permissions to merge PR');
       return false;
@@ -779,6 +778,7 @@ async function mergePr(iid) {
       logger.info('PR not acceptable for merging');
       return false;
     }
+    logger.debug({ err }, 'merge PR error');
     logger.info('PR merge failed');
     return false;
   }