No, it isn't required for sites to have a popup. There's a thousand less shitty ways web devs could implement this, up to and including just not using 3rd party cookies. But that's harrrrrrrrrd so we turned the web into a huge mess of crap.
Well, technically speaking you can get away with having no cookie pop if you ONLY use "strictly neccessary" cookies. Even if you use cookies to remember the user's preferences that make using your site a more enjoyable experience you have to have a cookie banner.
The link you provide is not a DPA nor a EU body. I would advise getting better sources, as cookies to remember user preferences are allowed without consent.
