How can I enable the blue animation handles in Effect Controls
in order to be able to shorten my sequence without breaking animation keyframes?
See also:
You can't do this to an entire sequence - it's done to individual graphics items within your sequence.
You can adjust the intro and outro times in the Responsive Design - Time section of the Essential Graphics panel:
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/responsive-design-features.html
It's not totally obvious, but to get access to the "Responsive Design - Time" section in the Essential Graphics Panel, you need to select the keyframes you've made in the Vector Motion section of your graphic, otherwise you won't be presented with those options.