Visiting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on Thursday that Europe was fearful that the U.S. Senate's rejection of the nuclear test ban treaty could signal a change in the U.S. strategy.

Such a signal would make the European countries "very unhappy," Fischer told reporters before meeting U.S. government officials.

Criticizing the Senate's rejection of the nuclear test ban treaty, Fischer said the move sends a bad message to other nuclear states.

"We hope this is not reflecting a shift in the basic strategy of the United States," Fischer said, adding it would be "very serious."

He indicated that non-nuclear states are looking to the United States to provide "some sort of order" in a nuclear world.

The U.S. Senate rejected the nuclear test ban treaty by a vote of 51-48, ignoring appeals from the Clinton administration and governments from other countries all over the world.

President Bill Clinton blasted the Republicans who control the Senate as "new isolationists."

Speaking of the Balkans, Fischer called for consideration of a lifting of sanctions against Yugoslavia. Such a measure could be a support for the opposition in that country.

But Fischer added that he is against lifting the sanctions if this will help Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, adding that peace can only come when his policy of trying to establish a greater Serbia is rejected.