GDPR does not formally require cookie popups (and the cookie stuff predates GDPR as such anyway). But it's challenging to the point of impracticality to run a website with so few cookies that a popup is not required. The EU's official resources on data protection, for example, have a popup. (https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/r...)
only if your site insist to use any of the widely used Ad networks
through there are Ad Networks which base ads on what is on your site instead of who visits
and the popup you link is _not_ a GDPR popup but is related to some other older and very misguided law(s). (Not EU wide laws, but EU sites want to be compliant with every member countries laws.)
Having a EU decision which requires countries to remove this older misguided laws has been on the agenda for years. It's just given that most sites anyway will have popups (e.g. for Google Ads) things move way way way to slow :(
>> But it's challenging to the point of impracticality to run a website with so few cookies that a popup is not required.
Nonsense. It's easy to create a site that doesn't need a cookie pop-up. Indeed the mere existance of a cookie pop-up screams "we are tracking you and selling your info".