None of those popups are required by European lawmakers. Websites don’t need to ask for permission for the essential cookies like what’s necessary to log into an online account or add items to a shopping cart - indeed, many compliant EU cookie popups have “only essential cookies” as the least permissive option.
They only need to ask for permission if they want consent for the kind of invasive tracking that the GDPR and related regulations were intended to discourage anyway. And they aren’t required to use popups or banners to get any consent they might need.
The popups, and especially the quite probably legally invalid common implementation where granting consent is made easier than refusing it, are a frequently bad-faith attempt by the industry to continue tracking-centric business as fully as possible contrary to the policy intention of the GDPR. They are not a requirement of the law.
They only need to ask for permission if they want consent for the kind of invasive tracking that the GDPR and related regulations were intended to discourage anyway. And they aren’t required to use popups or banners to get any consent they might need.
The popups, and especially the quite probably legally invalid common implementation where granting consent is made easier than refusing it, are a frequently bad-faith attempt by the industry to continue tracking-centric business as fully as possible contrary to the policy intention of the GDPR. They are not a requirement of the law.