Steingrímur J. Sigfússon

{{short description|Icelandic politician (born 1955)}}

{{use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Icelandic name|Steingrímur}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Steingrímur J. Sigfússon

| image = Steingrímur J. Sigfússon norden-1 (cropped).jpg

| order =

| office = Speaker of the Althing

| primeminister = Bjarni Benediktsson
Katrín Jakobsdóttir

| president = Guðni Th. Jóhannesson

| term_start = 29 October 2017

| term_end = 25. September 2021

| predecessor = Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir

| successor = Birgir Ármannsson

| president1 = Guðni Th. Jóhannesson

| primeminister1 = Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson
Bjarni Benediktsson

| predecessor1 = Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson

| successor1 = Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir

| term_start1 = 29 October 2016

| term_end1 = 24 January 2017

| office2 = Minister of Finance

| primeminister2 = Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir

| term_start2 = 1 February 2009

| term_end2 = 2011

| predecessor2 = Árni Mathiesen

| successor2 = Oddný G. Harðardóttir

| office3 = Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture

| primeminister3 = Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir

| term_start3 = 1 February 2009

| term_end3 = 10 May 2009

| predecessor3 = Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson

| successor3 = Jón Bjarnason

| term_start4 = 1 January 2012

| term_end4 = 23 May 2013

| primeminister4 = Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir

| predecessor4 = Jón Bjarnason

| successor4 = Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson

| office5 = Minister of Agriculture and Communications

| primeminister5 = Steingrímur Hermannsson

| term_start5 = 28 September 1988

| term_end5 = 30 April 1991

| predecessor5 = Jón Helgason (as Minister of Agriculture)
Mattías Á. Mathiesen (as Minister of Communications)

| successor5 = Halldór Blöndal

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|08|04|df=y}}

| birth_place = Gunnarsstaðir, Þistilfjörður, Iceland

| spouse = Bergný Marvinsdóttir

| children = 4

| alma_mater = University of Iceland

| profession = Geologist

| party = Left-Green Movement

| otherparty = People's Alliance

}}

Steingrímur Jóhann Sigfússon (born 4 August 1955) is an Icelandic politician. He has been a member of the Althing (Icelandic parliament) since 1983 and was the founding chairman of the Left-Green Movement (Vinstri hreyfingin – grænt framboð) from 1999 until 2013. He was the Minister for Agriculture and Communications from 1988 to 1991.{{citation | title = Steingrímur J. Sigfússon | url = http://www.althingi.is/cv_en.php4?ksfaerslunr=74 | publisher=Secretariat of Althingi | access-date =29 January 2009}} He was Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2011.{{Cite web|url=https://www.government.is/ministries/ministry-of-finance-and-economic-affairs/former-ministers/|title=Government of Iceland | Organisation Chart of the Ministry of Finance|website=www.government.is}} In 2011, he took on the roles of Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture and Minister of Economic Affairs. He was first elected as a member of the People's Alliance and helped found the Left-Green Movement after the merger of the People's Alliance into the more moderate Social Democratic Alliance.

Steingrímur was born in Gunnarsstaðir, a large sheep farm between Garður and Þórshöfn in the Þistilfjörður region of northeast Iceland (Svalbarðshreppur municipality). In his younger days he was an avid sportsman, both track and field and also a volleyball player. On 16 January 2006, Steingrímur was injured in a car accident not far from Blönduós but later recovered.

He supported the end of the US military presence in Iceland, but believed Iceland itself should have taken the initiative in ending this presence. Since September 2006, when US forces left Naval Air Station Keflavik, he has strongly opposed any possible development of an Icelandic army seeing the country's need for armed forces as practically non-existent. He believes that civilian institutions such as the police and the coast guard should be organized in order to provide the needed protection in the unlikely event of a major disturbance.{{citation | title = The Stories That Shaped the Year | url = http://grapevine.is/default.aspx?show=paper&part=fullstory&id=1543 |work=Reykjavik Grapevine | author=Sveinn Birkir Björnsson | access-date =29 January 2009}}

In November 2006, he published the book Við öll – Íslenskt velferðarsamfélag á tímamótum ("All of Us – Icelandic Welfare Society at Crossroads"), laying out his political ideology.{{citation | title = Við öll – íslenskt velferðarsamfélag á tímamótum (2006) | url = http://www.stjornmalogstjornsysla.is/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=227&Itemid=32 | access-date =29 January 2009|language=is}}{{citation | url = http://grapevine.is/default.aspx?show=paper&part=fullstory&id=1544 | title = Defending the Welfare System |work=Reykjavik Grapevine | author=Steinunn Jakobsdóttir | access-date =29 January 2009}}