We do have many of them. We just have chosen not to mine them because that creates environmental and health issues and we can obtain them from elsewhere. When we mine them here, then mostly in remote places.
Cobalt: Top producer is DRC, Europe has a minor local production, mostly in Finnland Lithium: Abundant everywhere but difficult to extract, the EU doesn't produce any significant quantities right now Nickel: Only 1.5% produced in EU, again mostly in Finnland Maganese: This is the only metal relevant for current batteries where there are no (known) significant deposits in central EU, some are around the black sea, industrial production is nonexistent.
Where the EU is already more present is in the refining of the raw ores. I think the current situation is, while not great, acceptable. As long as many different producers of the rare metals are available and the EU creates reserves of them (it does), it is fine to be dependent on imports for the moment.
Hey, not country war, timezone war! Those bases? They belong to team GMT+1 now!