This article “Accessing European funded projects – a tool to ensure the financial autonomy of local public authorities” attempts to analyze the issue of the financial autonomy of the administrative territorial units, viewed in terms of a less conventional dimension – accessing European funding by the local public administration. The actuality of the scientific approach lies in the fact that local public authorities are currently facing luck of money, community development needs, limited financial autonomy and excessive financial and fiscal centralization. One of the solutions, which could partially remedy the created situation, is the projects with European funding. Therefore, in the following lines, we try to outline some ideas about the specifics of accessing projects, finally arriving with some conclusions and formulating some proposals to remedy the situation.