There may be some truth to this, but I also think we choose to spend exorbitantly on military of our own accord. It is not the EU lobby that has kept us from massively reducing our military spending. Charitably, it is our own fear and uncertainty about what would happen if we massively reduced our military footprint. More cynically, the military is a big money maker for defense contractors and am entrenched jobs program. I think there is truth to both things: I certainly fear what would happen if we decided to stop investing in overwhelming force, but I'm also frustrated by the entrenched interests that seem to make it politically impossible to reconsider our posture. But I don't think it has much to do with propping up the European welfare state.