Steingrímur J. Sigfússon

Who is Steingrímur J. Sigfússon?

Steingrímur Jóhann Sigfússon is an Icelandic politician and was Iceland's Minister of Finance. He has been a member of the Althing since 1983 and is the founding chairman of the Left-Green Movement. He was also the Minister for Agriculture and Communications from 1988–1991.

Steingrímur was born in Gunnarsstaðir, a large sheep farm between Garður and Þórshöfn in the Þistilfjörður region of northeast Iceland. 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, Iceland: he has now 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.