BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers will seek to clinch a deal with Greece next Tuesday on a package of contingency steps to ensure Athens will meet future fiscal targets as well as reach a political agreement on future debt relief for Greece.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attends a parliamentary session before a vote of tax and pension reforms in Athens, Greece, May 8, 2016. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

The euro zone can only offer to discuss debt relief, options for which are already being discussed by deputy euro zone finance ministers, once Greece meets various preconditions and the contingency reform package is one of them.

“Given the fact that Greece is busily legislating the prior actions already now ... I think we can be quite optimistic that these preconditions will be met,” said a senior EU official involved in the preparation of the ministers talks on May 24th.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed on May 9 to consider debt relief for Greece, if necessary, once the country delivers on all reform promises under its current bailout program.

This includes a set of actions, difficult to legislate under the Greek system, that Athens would automatically have to take if it were to miss its target of a primary surplus of 3.5 percent of GDP in 2018.

These contingent actions are to provide savings of 2 percent of GDP -- the difference between the forecasts of Greece’s euro zone lenders and the International Monetary Fund on what primary surplus Athens can achieve in two years with the already legislated reforms.

Asked if the deal on May 24th would encompass the contingency steps and a political agreement on debt related issues that would satisfy euro zone governments and the International Monetary Fund, the official said:

“Yes that is very much what we are working towards. It is difficult, but it is not out of reach,” he said.

Greece and the representatives of the lenders were moving toward a deal on the contingency package, he added.

Once a deal on the contingency package is there, the ministers are likely to offer Greece a political agreement on reprofiling Greek debt through an extension of maturities and grace periods on existing loans to keep debt servicing costs under control.

The ministers said on May 9th however, that the offer of debt reprofiling would only be valid if Greece met all of bailout obligations at the end of the program in 2018.