95Although, by that argument, the Council seeks to justify less extensive access to documents drawn up by its working groups because of their allegedly ‘technical’ nature, first of all, it must be pointed out that whether or not a document is ‘technical’ is not a relevant criterion for the purposes of the application of the first subparagraph of Article 4(3) of Regulation No 1049/2001. Next, and in any event, the actual content of the documents at issue shows that they contain normative proposals for various legislative texts and that they therefore form part of the normal legislative process. The documents at issue are therefore in no way ‘technical’. Lastly, the members of Council working groups are given a mandate from the Member States that they represent and, at the time of deliberation on a given legislative proposal, they express the position of their Member State within the Council when the Council acts in its capacity as co-legislator. The fact that those working groups are not authorised to adopt the definitive position of that institution does not mean, however, that their work does not form part of the normal legislative process, which, moreover, the Council does not dispute, or that the documents that they draw up are ‘technical’ in nature.
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