Rare-earth metals in Greece and the Nordic countries should be tapped to save Europe’s car and electronics industries from uncertain imports, a panel of geologists said today. 

While Europe is rich with the rare-earth elements used to power batteries and produce magnets, leaders haven’t demonstrated the political will to tap them, according to Friedrich Wellmer, former president of Germany’s Geological Survey. Scientists at the European Geosciences Union’s annual meeting in Vienna urged policymakers to address the problem. 

“It is not that the elements don’t exist in Europe,” said Wellmer, who is now the chairman of sustainable management at France’s Institute for Advanced Studies. “It has become more unacceptable socially to mine them.” 

Rare earths, 17 chemically similar elements, are used in products such as Apple Inc. (AAPL:US)’s iPod music players, flat-screen televisions and hybrid cars. European industry, which imports more than 90 percent of its rare-earth-metal needs, consumes about a third of the 70,000 tons of material used annually. 

“Europe relies on natural resources whether we like it or not,” said Richard Herrington, a professor of mineralogy at London’s Natural History Museum. “It just takes a political or economic crisis to put pressure on European industry. We’re seeing that now.” 

WTO Complaint 

The U.S. Defense Department warned that it would intervene in case of a shortage of rare-earth materials for defense electronics and motors, Brett Lambert, the Pentagon official responsible for industrial policy, said on April 9. China, the world’s biggest producer of the metals, imposed export restrictions in 2010 and the U.S., the EU and Japan have challenged the curbs at the World Trade Organization.