diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9454b37c..cbc49e04 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ The **patch** part changes incrementally at each release.
 * evolinux-base: On debian 10 and later, add noexec on /dev/shm
 * evolinux-base: default value for "evolinux_ssh_group"
 * generate-ldif: support MariaDB 10.3
+* haproxy: add a variable to keep the existing configuration
 * listupgrade: install old-kernel-autoremoval script
 * mongodb: still incompatible with Debian 10
 * mysql: activate binary logs by specifying log_bin path
diff --git a/haproxy/defaults/main.yml b/haproxy/defaults/main.yml
index 4a05ffb7..ed56ddbf 100644
--- a/haproxy/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/haproxy/defaults/main.yml
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 # backward compatibility with a previously used variable
 haproxy_backports: "{{ haproxy_jessie_backports | default(false, true) }}"
 haproxy_stats_url: "http://127.0.0.1:8080/"
+haproxy_force_config: True
diff --git a/haproxy/tasks/main.yml b/haproxy/tasks/main.yml
index 4ef1c9bd..c5ba8dda 100644
--- a/haproxy/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/haproxy/tasks/main.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
   template:
     src: "{{ item }}"
     dest: /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
-    force: yes
+    force: "{{ haproxy_force_config }}"
     validate: "haproxy -c -f %s"
   with_first_found:
   - "templates/haproxy/haproxy.{{ inventory_hostname }}.cfg.j2"