The parent was talking about ePrivacy Directive which is a regulation for companies registered and operating in EU. That is where the cookie banner requirement comes from.
And there was NEVER a requirement for a "cookie banner" in its text. Consent under it can be given in any other way that are not as intrusive, but it was the industry who chose the stupid banner and invasive analytics. Also notice that under both GDPR and ePrivacy Directive, consent is not required for cookies/etc with a legitimate purpose. Examples of those have been given under the ePrivacy Directive from almost the beginning, but more explicitly in the "Opinion 04/2012 on Cookie Consent Exemption" which is from 2012 and predates cookie banners.
[1] Here's an example of asking for consent to store a cookie that doesn't involve a banner: https://www.williamgrant.com . It's in the age-check modal.
I was answering to a claim that cookie banners are required by the ePrivacy Directive. There is no requirement for banner anywhere there or in GDPR. They were invented by the advertisement industry, and almost all the time are found to be non-compliant.