The process, including any votes is well recorded.

unless they are all playing into a pre-existing narrative about "anonymous bureaucrats in Brussels" wielding all the power when in fact the decisions are made by ministers?

By gum, I think you've cracked it < /irony>

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

On 13 February 2018, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, published her recommendations in a case regarding the (lack of) transparency at the Council of the European Union by failing to record and make publicly available the positions of the different EU Member States during negotiations on legislative proposals.